Back to Life
by Jgirl53
Summary: 'They watched as the girl sat up, wiped the blood off her pale forehead where a bullet wound clearly used to be, and looked at them like they were crazy. "Might wanna scratch that body bag," Robin murmured to his mentor.' OC story. Post-Invasion. *I don't own Young Justice*
1. Bullet

It started out as a normal patrol for Batman, Bruce Wayne, and Robin, Tim Drake. No major villains were breaking out of Arkham for a while. So they were stopping the usual muggings and murders. Saving an old man here, a random woman there, the usual. All of course were too dense to stay inside during Gotham's prime-time for crime.

What caught their attention was screaming from an assumed female –or a male with an exceptionally high voice- two blocks from where they were sitting on a building's rooftop. The vigilantes busted into action simultaneously, jumping across the rooftops to get to the alleyway the scream originated from. Before they could get there the sound of a gunshot ripped through the air. They continued with a new determination, even if the victim was dead the killer could still be caught.

Once there, they dropped into the alleyway to find a teenage girl with short black hair containing a multitude of colored streaks on the ground with a bag on her shoulder that she was probably killed for, a bullet wound starkly showing on her forehead, and three males in hooded jackets and loose jeans. They were the usual "gangster" type. Following with the stereotype, they were an easy take down for the Dynamic Duo.

The thugs were tied up by Batman while Robin checked to confirm the girl had no pulse. Robin had to force back the bile that still came to his throat when he saw murder victims; Gotham's underbelly was still disturbing to the teen, even after a year with first-hand job experience. Especially when he had to step in fresh blood to get to the girl.

The teen shared a look with his elder that clearly stated the girl was dead.

Batman contacted the police, "Three perpetrators, bring a body bag."

Normally, they would've left the scene right then and let Gotham PD carry on from there. But in _normal_ situations the victim of a murder didn't groan in annoyance. With wide eyes they watched as the girl sat up, wiped the blood off her pale forehead where a bullet wound clearly used to be, and looked at them like _they_ were crazy.

The thugs who were tied together not ten feet away from the girl promptly screamed. One might've wet themselves by the distinct asparagus smell that now tainted the air.

"Might wanna scratch that body bag," Robin murmured to his mentor without taking his eyes off the girl.

The girl picked herself up off the ground and brushed off the front of her worn jeans. She looked in more annoyance at the blood that had soaked into the back of her clothing due to the pool she was just lying in. "I just got these clothes too," She huffed out.

Robin stared at the girl, was she really complaining about clothes when she just recovered from a bullet to the brain? The bird briefly considered that the apocalypse might be happening, but brushed it off. He was spending too much time around Nightwing.

The girl finally spared the others in the alley a glance and gazed back at Robin with an irked expression. "Do you not know it is rude to stare?" She asked bluntly.

The teen vigilante was about to quip back if she knew it was weird to come back to life. But his mentor stopped him with the concise words of, "Explain yourself."

"It is a long story," She shrugged.

"Then start at the beginning," Batman growled out. Patience wasn't his strongest point.

"Well, I am actually fairly hungry. So if we could get some food before we start this story session that would be great," The girl wasn't showing any sign of budging towards spilling everything with a simple Bat Glare.

Batman thought it over for a good minute as he glared the girl down. She met his eyes levelly, despite being shorter, showing no sign of breaking when he finally decided. "Fine," All his aggravation at the situation could be heard in the one word.

Robin shot a side glance at Bats. "Um, Batman, are you serious here?"

"Sadly, yes," Came the staunched reply.

"The girl is in blood soaked clothes, we're in costume, and its 2 a.m. Where exactly are we going to be getting food in this situation?"

No reply came. That was strong enough in itself for Robin.

"Please tell me you're kidding," Robin pleaded.

"I'm not," The sound of Batman gritting his teeth reached both pairs of teenage ears. "Follow me," Batman ordered the girl and walked out the alley with Robin in tow.

The girl showed no signs of resistance and followed the black clad heroes out of the alley, but not before looking back at the terrified thugs and saying, "Careful who you shoot next time guys."

**A/N: All I can say is that I thought up a new OC and it's been clawing at my mind saying **_**write me, write me! **_**Yeah, so tell me if you wanna see more or not. **


	2. Pasta

Robin couldn't believe this. Sure, the girl came back to life. Sure, they didn't know anything about her yet. But that still didn't clarify as to why she got a free ride in the Batmobile. She was blindfolded so she wouldn't know where they were going. But it just wasn't fair in the male teen's eyes. Tim himself had to earn his place in the vehicle; he had to show he deserved it. This girl got a free pass.

The bird huffed out his annoyance with a few choice words he mumbled under his breath.

It didn't go unnoticed by the girl. "Do you have something you wish to say?" She asked from the backseat.

"Nothing," Robin spat out harshly. The girl's barely spoken and she was already getting to him.

"I am glad you express your feelings so easily," She said clearly.

Robin turned around in his seat to face her, even though she wouldn't see. She wouldn't see the slight twitching of his eye either, thankfully. "Excuse me?" He questioned.

"All I mean is that you clearly show distaste to me."

"No kidding?" He threw out sarcastically.

Batman had let it go on that far. But his protégé looked ready to pounce on the girl. Neither of them knew what she was capable of so that wouldn't be the brightest of ideas. "Robin, sit down," The orders came bluntly.

With a few more grumbles the teen complied. The Dark Knight didn't miss the girl's smirk in the back mirror.

They all drove in silence until they reached the Bat Cave. Once there Batman ordered Robin to keep a watch on the girl while he went to go grab food so the girl would start talking. Alfred usually left leftovers in the kitchen so both vigilantes could eat after patrol.

In retrospect, leaving Robin with the girl wasn't the best of ideas.

"So, Robin, I believe is your name, why is it that you dislike me? Jealousy perhaps?" The girl was picking at his last nerve. Not having slept in over twenty-four hours didn't help anything.

"I'm not jealous," He scoffed at the end for his own needs.

"Your behavior suggests otherwise," She noted with a hand gesture.

"Once again, I'm not jealous," He tried doing a Batman-like growl for a sense of finality on the subject.

"Whatever you say, Birdy," She sighed.

"Birdy?" He repeated questioningly.

"Your alias is a robin. A robin is a bird. Thus Birdy," The girl explained.

"What gives you the right to give me a nickname?"

"What takes away such a right?" She quipped back.

Both teens were leaning in for an intimidation factor with scowls on their faces. Although the girl was still blindfolded so Tim felt his own leaning in had no point.

Batman chose that moment to break up the friendly conversation. "Robin," He barked out.

The bird broke out of his "stare down" with the girl and turned towards Batman, "Yeah?"

"Go to bed, I'll deal with our _guest_," The order came clear as a bell.

Robin looked like he was about to argue with his mouth open to speak. He then shut it at the look on his mentor's cowled face. Neither one of the duo had slept for a while so crossing him was a bad idea. Not that he was going to give the girl that advice. So without further adieu the bird hopped out of the Batmobile and headed up the stairs to his room in the Manor.

"Remove your blindfold," Batman ordered the girl.

"Will do Mr. Batman," She whispered sarcastically as she untied the knot on the back of her head. Once she was done she continued sitting in the Batmobile, awaiting a direction.

Batman moved his chair from the Bat Computer and sat it in a more open space a little ways away. "Come on," He motioned for her to get out of the car and come sit in the chair.

The girl followed the order and sat. Batman promptly cuffed her ankles around the leg of the chair. She accepted it with little more than a flinch from the unexpected touch.

"Taking precautions?" The girl asked, trying to keep up a cool demeanor.

"Here's your food," Batman handed her the plate of chicken alfredo without answering her question. He then pulled up another chair and sat across from her.

The girl brushed it off with a, "Thank you." And dug into the small mountain of food.

Batman waited for her to finish. By the way she was attacking the food you would think she wouldn't have eaten in days. As she ate, he formulated questions to ask her. There were the basics; her name, age, reason for coming back to life. Then the slightly harder ones; why she was in Gotham alone at night seemed to be the toughest from the list.

The girl finished off the last of the pasta with another say of thanks and set the empty plate on the floor next to the chair she was placed in. "You may ask your questions now," She allowed.

"What's your name?"

"Avery Brave," Came the simple answer.

"Age?"

"Fifteen."

"Why did you come back to life?"

"There is the question of the night. The simple answer is that I have regenerative abilities. So far I have come back from being stabbed, shot, starved, and a billion other ways you could name. Besides that I have rapid healing. It is also what makes me have such a hearty appetite as you have just seen a prime example. Getting shot really takes it out of a person," Avery answered as she shuffled with the bag that was still over her shoulder.

It was a sort of small backpack that she pulled a container for eye contacts out of. She pulled out the contacts that were making her eyes look a dim grey to reveal bright blue-green eyes. Once she put the contacts away and in her bag she pulled out glasses with frames that didn't look like they belonged in this century. When she put them on they made her look slightly dorky instead of the punk look that it seemed she was going for with her hair streaks. Although even the colorful hair streaks proved to be fake as she unclipped them from her hair and placed them in a plastic baggie she produced from her bag. As the last streak was taken out it revealed her just to have choppy black hair that almost reached her shoulders.

"Any other changes I should expect?" Batman asked.

Avery let a small chuckle roll off her lips, "No, that is all."

"So this is your regular appearance?"

"Give or take a haircut, yes."

"You change your appearance often?"

"Yes. Rapid growing hair and nails is another downside of my abilities, it allows for me to change my appearance more often than others though."

"Why do you change your appearance then?"

"I relocate often, so changing my appearance goes hand in hand with a new locale," Avery explained while pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

"Is there a reason that you move around so much?"

"I simply like moving after spending too much time in a place. A year here, a few months there. Whatever suits my needs at the time."

"What need do you have to be in Gotham?"

"Simple, I wished to contact you, the Batman."

"Why?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. This better be a good answer for letting a stranger into his cave.

Avery fidgeted in her seat slightly and her cool manner was breaking more quickly, "There have been some less-than-kind people who have been trying to learn the secret to my abilities. As I was not born with them, and am the only person alive with the information as to how to manifest these abilities in a human, I am the one they are after."

"'Only person alive'? Was there someone else at some point with the information?"

"Yes, but that was many years ago."

"How many?"

The black haired girl fidgeted again, this time pulling at the edges of her long sleeves so they would completely cover her arms, "Around seventy-five years ago."

"How did you come across the information?" Batman could tell the subject was uncomfortable with the girl. It was best to get through it as best as possible to avoid a breakdown. No matter how strong the girl seemed there is always unchartered territory with any person that will make them collapse in a puddle of tears.

"When I was experimented on," She whispered and pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

"When did the experimentation happen?"

"Around seventy-five years ago," She said even quieter.

Batman did a double take for a moment. "If that is true, then you're not fifteen years old."

Avery sat up straight for a moment to defend herself, "I have a body that has aged fifteen years. You asked my age, not the number of years I have been on this earth."

"How many years have you been on this earth then?"

"Eighty-nine," Came back the confident reply.

"You mean to tell me you were experimented on around the time of World War II and have lived until the present day."

"Not around the time of World War II," Avery clarified, "_During_ World War II."

Batman sighed, her story did meet up in its key points. There was something that this Avery girl wasn't revealing though. All the information was staring him in the face. Batman gave up and went out on a theory that had been slowly formulating in his mind. "Roll up your left sleeve," He commanded.

Avery in turn tugged down her sleeve more. "That is none of your business."

"Roll up your sleeve," He commanded with more force.

"No," She practically growled back.

Batman was fed up. He rose from his chair and forcefully grabbed her arm. With one swift movement he pushed up the sleeve on her left arm to reveal four black numbers, '_1,632_'. Those numbers confirmed the theory. This girl was a prisoner and medical experiment in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

**A/N: Have I mastered the art of troll cliffhangers? I realized how twisted and cruel my mind is when my OC is compared to others. Everyone else's is all happy and throwing peace signs. Mine was a prisoner! Yeah, I'm a horrible person. Well if anybody didn't understand, Avery was a medical experiment back in WWII, that's what gave her the regenerative abilities. That's all for now folks, there will still be a lot more explaining next chapter though. Feedback is appreciated to know if anyone's out of character or anything. Reviews are welcomed with open arms.**


	3. Sunshine

As the last puzzle piece in Batman's mind was fit snuggly in place, he released her arm.

Avery was glad for the steel grip to be off her wrist. She immediately pulled her sleeve back down at the first opportunity. "That was uncalled for," She muttered.

"If you had pulled your sleeve up yourself, I wouldn't have had to," The Dark Knight growled in response.

"You do not understand the concept of trust, do you?" She spat. If she had been able to, she would've rose from her chair, but her ankles were still handcuffed to the chair she was sitting in.

"Trust is earned," Came back the low response.

Avery hesitated for a moment until a reply came to mind, "Then I shall earn your trust."

Batman had to hold back a scoff. The girl may be just under ninety but she still rationalizes like a normal teenager. "That's not an easy thing to do."

"Good," Avery smiled slightly, "I have always preferred a challenge to a silver platter serving."

_This girl may survive in Gotham yet_, Batman thought to himself. On the outside he said, "It's not smart to take a challenge against the Batman."

"I took a midnight walk through the East End. Who ever said I was smart?"

"Isn't that the truth," A voice said from the stairs leading down from the Manor. There was Tim standing in Batman pajama pants, a plain t-shirt, and sunglasses. He had his uniform folded under his arm and his utility belt slung over his shoulder. He took in the girl's altered appearance with ease, although she looked a bit more dorkish in his own opinion.

"You are just a breath of fresh air, huh Birdy?" The sarcasm rolled of Avery's tongue easily. Internally, she was laughing at the teen's choice in pajama pants.

"You're not a ray of sunshine yourself," He replied as he placed his utility belt back in its place. "And stop calling me Birdy," He added in as a second thought.

"I am going to have to go with no this time," Avery said with a shrug of indifference.

And there Batman was thinking one teenager in his cave was bad enough. Two were about to cause chaos. "Act your age," The Dark Knight snapped at Avery.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Once again, I am fifteen years of _age_."

"You know what I mean," Batman growled out.

She hung her head a little and did a mock salute, "Yes sir."

Tim cocked his head to the side at the small encounter between his mentor and the girl. Having missed the entire conversation, he was clueless. "I'm missing something here. Care to explain?" He asked both of the other souls in general proximity. Either one of them could provide a suitable answer.

Batman looked to Avery for a moment to see if she would rather take the reins with this one. She shrugged and muttered something along the lines of, "He is your partner to inform."

The disguised playboy took a deep breath and faced his protégé. "Avery here," He started with a tilt of his head towards said girl, "Has extreme regenerative abilities due to being experimented on in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. There is also someone after her due to her knowledge of the formula for her abilities."

Robin let that sink in for a moment. A million questions flitted in and out of his mind like confused bugs. "So," He started off slowly, "Who exactly is after her?"

"She hasn't said who yet," Batman admitted.

Avery huffed out a loud breath, "_She_ is being hunted down by a mercenary with an orange and black mask. I do not know his name."

The pajama clad teen narrowed his eyes under his sunglasses. "The only person matching that description is Deathstroke. But he already has enhanced healing compared to a regular human, what would he have to gain from your abilities?"

"A mercenary who is virtually unkillable? Do tell how that would not be an advantage in his favor," Avery leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

Batman compiled all the information on Deathstroke he could find in his mind. Deadly? Yes. Unkillable? Not yet at least. Real name: Slade Wilson. He was made to be a super soldier, which explains the advanced healing. Although not even his advanced healing could save his right eye. But he is usually just a mercenary for hire, if he's after Avery, its most likely because someone hired him.

An eerie silence fell over the cave. Not even the bats high above their heads dared to make a sound.

Robin rubbed his temples slowly, trying to put together his thoughts. His head perked up to look at Avery as his thoughts clicked into place. "Wait, you said 'virtually unkillable'. Does that mean you can't come back from things like getting your head chopped off, or being burned alive?"

"You do not have to sound so hopeful at the prospect of that being true, Birdy. But even I do not know how far my abilities range. I have been able to regenerate smaller things like a finger, but I am not sure for a head. As for being burned alive, I heal so quickly that unless the flame is consistently applied my skin is fresh to burn again within a matter of seconds," Avery explained calmly.

The bird looked at Avery with derision, "You heal _that _quickly?"

"Yes. The more the abilities are used the quicker they work. In the past it took hours to come back to life from a gunshot wound. Now it takes minutes, as you have witnessed."

Robin scanned through all the information that's been crammed into his mind in the past few minutes and came up with his next question, albeit it basic. "What's your last name?"

"Brave," Came the clipped reply.

"That's not of European origin," Robin pointed out indignantly, "What's your real name?"

"I will tell you both that name one day, when trust is exchanged in all of our favors," At the last part Avery threw a glance in the direction of Batman.

"Well that's great, I'm going to bed now," Tim concised as he swiveled on his sock-clad heel to head back towards the stairs. No more information could fit in his brain with the amount of sleep he was currently running on. He at least realized that much at this point.

"Birdy is right on this one. I will be leaving once you unlock these handcuffs." Avery hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and waited for Batman to unlock her ankles.

Batman thought it over for a moment. Alfred would give him an earful the second Tim mentioned their guest in the cave, and how she was sent back into Gotham when it was still dark out. "No, you'll be staying here tonight," He told Avery.

Robin stopped at the top stair he was on. Deciding to not argue with his mentor, he kept walking. This girl was annoying him to no end.

"Where am I sleeping then?" Avery asked the big bat.

"I'll bring a cot down; you'll be sleeping here in the cave."

"Thank you," Avery bowed her head slightly.

Batman went off to get the cot from a storage closet without further adieu. His thoughts roamed in the process. This girl was broken, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. She flinched when touched. She followed orders exceptionally and sets out to please. She is scared of what would happen if she disobeys. One day, he'll ask her what she went through in that camp.

**A/N: The song Bullet by Hollywood Undead was running through my head the entire time I was writing this. I also realized that I unintentionally named the first chapter after that song. But I don't really mind. I love the song; it's the happiest song about suicide ever. I'm a horrible person, get used to it. Feedback is appreciated!**

**Read. **_**Review**_**. ****Enjoy****.**


	4. Offer

Handcuffed to the cot she was laying on, that's how Avery awoke. It took her a moment to piece back together what happened the previous night. "I was shot by two-bit thugs in a dank alleyway. I met the man who dresses up like a bat in his free time, and his bird themed sidekick. They took me to this cave, which is most likely their base. I ate pasta with chicken, told them of my abilities and other basic information, then fell asleep," Avery whispered this all to what she thought was an empty cave.

"Who are you talking to?" Robin asked from the bottom of the stairs where he was sitting in full costume.

The black haired girl almost jumped a foot in the air. "Goodness," She breathed out and put a hand to her hammering heart. "Do not scare me like that," She hissed and sat up after fumbling for her glasses that were in her bag at the foot of the cot.

Robin mentally added a tally, _Robin: 1, Avery: 0_. "Who are you talking to?" He asked again.

"Myself, I prefer thinking aloud and always have." She chuckled slightly, "My father used to say that he did not even have to ask what I was thinking, I would just automatically say it, no matter what. Although I picked up the habit from him in the first place."

"Your father?" Robin pondered. As he was sitting there, Avery had turned in her sleep a few times and muttered about her father. It looked like she was having a nightmare.

"Yes, he was a good man, a doctor. He tried to help people up until his last moments." Avery smiled, but it looked like she was fighting a frown.

"Do you miss him?" Immediately after he asked it he wanted to hit himself.

"Every day," She whispered and fiddled with her hair to keep her emotions in check. Her hair had grown just over an inch in the past hours; she decided it would need to be cut again soon.

Robin tripped over his own thoughts trying to think about what to say next. "I'm sorry for your loss," He finally decided on.

"Thank you, Birdy, but it was a long time ago." She composed herself and sat up completely straight, "Just forget I mentioned him."

"Sure, Sunshine," Robin adjusted back to what was becoming their normal polite conversation.

Avery raised an eyebrow in silent question.

"That's your nickname considering you gave me one."

"Why 'Sunshine'?"

"You're such a ray of sunshine already that it seemed to fit," Robin added in his own dose of sarcasm.

Avery shrugged it off and looked at the handcuffs that locked her right wrist to the cot. She had to hold back a scoff.

Robin took note, "What?"

"Just the handcuffs, I could just as easily dislocate my thumb, pop it back into place and be free to explore your cave," She explained levelly.

The Boy Wonder took his turn to scoff, "As if." He stood up and walked over to the cot, stopping six feet from it. "Watch," He grabbed a birdarang out of his utility belt and dropped it straight to the ground. There was an immediate beeping coming from the computer installed in his glove the second the metal projectile hit the ground. With a press of a button the beeping was turned off.

"You people are crazy," Avery deadpanned at the measures they took.

"It's not crazy if it works," Robin learned that lesson from Nightwing.

"That is reassuring," She rolled her eyes in the process. "So where is Batman?" Avery thought the big guy would've learned not to leave the two teens together by now.

"Upstairs," The costumed teen gave the most basic answer.

"Doing what?"

"He's talking to one of our partners." By the way he said partner it made it seem like their relationship branched off from more than just business. Familial maybe?

"Who?"

"His name's Nightwing, you might meet him if he sticks around today."

"You seem to think highly of him," Avery noted aloud.

Batman swooped down the stairs at that moment with an older teenager behind him. "What happened?" He addressed his protégé directly.

"I showed Avery what would happen if she had decided to take a walk around the cave without permission, kinda forgot you would get the message too," Robin explained sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

When Batman stepped forward to unlock Avery's handcuffs he revealed a fuller view of the older teen that was behind him. "Wow Robin, you have good taste," The guy in black with a blue bird on his chest said.

Robin whipped around to the guy, "That's not funny, Nightwing."

Nightwing chuckled, "Seems plenty funny from right here."

Batman cut off both of them, "Avery," He growled to get her attention, "Nightwing is here to make you an offer."

Avery nodded with a gesture that said for Nightwing to go ahead.

"I want to know if you want to join my team. You'd be a good addition. It's your decision though."

"Excuse me?" Avery sputtered on her own breath.

"The team is for super powered teens, you have the potential to be on it."

"I-I am untrained, you do not want me. Besides I attract trouble wherever I go, I would not be helpful," Avery spoke quickly.

"Every person on the team is a trouble magnet, and we were all untrained once."

Batman added in his own two cents, "You came here for protection; we're offering you a chance to learn to protect yourself. At the rate you're living, I won't always be here to offer protection."

"Why are you extending this offer to me? You know almost nothing about me."

"Think of it as a way to build trust," Batman said.

Avery folded her hands in her lap and stared at them, staying completely still. Silence filled the area for a few minutes. The girl finally spoke up and met their eyes once again, "I just have one question."

"Shoot," Nightwing said.

Avery looked confused at the phrase but took it as a yes. "Does this team of yours accept all types of people, no matter what their past may be?"

Nightwing grinned, "We've got a Martian, a clone, a time traveler, a demigod, and much more on the team. You'll fit right in."

"I have a follow up question."

"Sure."

"Do I have to tell of my past?" The girl looked genuinely scared in that moment.

"It's your choice whether or not you want to. We all have things we don't want to say to people after all."

Avery hesitantly spoke, "Then, I accept. Please teach me."

_.:Back to Life:._

**Recognized: Nightwing B01, Robin B20, Guest**

At the mention of a guest Impulse ran to the zeta tubes, leaving Blue Beetle dangling in their conversation. Sighing and mumbling something about a short attention span, Jamie followed after the speedster.

Bart was there before Nightwing, Robin, and the guest finished appearing. Once they did a black haired girl immediately stumbled to the metal wall of the zeta tube to stabilize herself.

"That was not enjoyable," She mumbled to the air.

Impulse, as one to always respect personal space, got as close to the girl as possible to try to see her face that was currently being shielded by her hair. "First time zeta rider?" He asked loudly.

"Is it that easy to tell?" The girl asked as she raised her head.

The second Bart got a clear look at the girl's face he grinned widely, "You're the White Eternal!"

The girl's face scrunched up in thought, "I am sorry, but I do not know anyone of that name."

Nightwing shook his head, "Bart," He cautioned.

"Whoops! Spoilers!" With that Bart speed back a few feet and covered his mouth.

Jamie jogged into the room, "Who's this?" He gestured to Avery who was now leaning against the wall of the zeta tube with her back.

"New team member," Robin pushed back the growl that wanted to accompany the words.

"Okay," Jamie wondered about Robin's current demeanor but brushed it off. He walked up to the girl and offered his right hand for a shake (the Scarab was screaming at him about how the girl was a threat the entire time), "Hola, I'm Jamie."

The girl extended her hand to his and shook, "Hi, my name is Avery," She introduced herself.

_This Avery has blood soaked into her clothing, I advise a preemptive attack_, the Scarab said. Jamie quickly moved his right arm behind his back as the Scarab tried to morph it into a sonic cannon. "No, no attacking," He whisper-yelled to the bug attached to his spine.

Avery turned her head to the side inquisitively. "Is there a reason to attack?"

"Nope, not one," Jamie forced his arm to go back to normal.

Nightwing spoke into an intercom he pulled up from the computer platform, "Come welcome our new member everyone."

**A/N: Lotsa story progression this chapter (even managed to sneak in Avery's hero name). Next chapter will be all the introductions and such. Can I just say how much I love Blue Beetle? He's awesome. I loved the reaction to last chapter. Eight reviews is the highest so far. Let's see if we can beat it this chapter! I'm actually really surprised how popular this is, especially 'cause it's an OC story. I seriously didn't expect it to get this many people on board. So thank you all! Feedback is appreciated.**

**Read. **_**Review**_**. ****Enjoy****.**


	5. Greetings

**A/N:** **THIS IS IMPORTANT! I apply to the headcanon that Mt. Justice was rebuilt after the events in Invasion. I know it didn't happen from the snippets shown of the future and probably won't ever happen, but it's important for this chapter nonetheless.**

Avery watched with wide eyes as person after person filed into the room. She had been told that there was an entire team, but she hadn't known there'd be that many. She mentally counted ten people in the room, not including herself.

Nightwing asked, "Mal and Karen?"

A green skinned girl with short red hair responded, "They're taking a personal day."

A green skinned, what could assumed to be guy, with large red eyes walked up beside a green skinned girl, "What's your name, Minnow?"

Avery shuffled in place slightly and pushed the rims of her glasses back up her nose then quietly said, "My name is Avery."

Robin held in a scoff, "Don't tell me you're shy, Sunshine."

Nightwing leaned in next to Tim and whispered, "You already have a nickname for her? Nice going little bro."

"I am not _shy_. I just have never been around a group of super powered people that could take me down within seconds if I say the wrong thing," Avery hissed at the younger bird.

A black haired boy with a red Superman insignia on his chest chuckled, "Don't worry, we're all friends here. I'm Conner by the way, otherwise known as Superboy."

Avery smiled her thanks and let everyone take their turns introducing themselves.

"I'm Wonder Girl, or Cassie," Said a blonde girl.

A small green skinned boy with a slightly monkey-ish appearance took his turn next, "Garfield, or Gar sometimes. But I'm also Beast Boy."

The green fish-boy said, "I'm La'gaan, Lagoon Boy on missions."

The green skinned girl next to La'gaan went next, "I'm M'gann, or Megan if it's easier. Otherwise I'm Miss Martian."

A girl with red hair spoke, "I'm Barbra, Batgirl when in costume."

Jamie spoke up from the sidelines, "You already know me, Blue Beetle by the way, but Big Mouth here," He pointed at the boy who called Avery White Eternal, "Is Impulse, or Bart when we're in civvies."

Bart shook his head enthusiastically while he still had his hands covering his mouth.

Nightwing took his turn to speak again, "You'll meet Mal and Karen when they get back. But for now, this is the Team. And we're currently in our base/living quarters. You'll be staying here too."

Avery cocked her head to the side, "You all live here?"

"No," Nightwing clarified, "Not all of us, but we do all have a room here to ourselves for when we wanna crash after late missions and such. You do too now."

The newbie to the Team nodded in understanding. She turned to the group, "Thank you for having me on your team. I will try my best."

M'gann smiled widely, "We're sure you will."

Conner looked at Avery with a piercing gaze, "So what are your powers?"

Avery sent an unsure look to Nightwing, who in turn nodded in encouragement, "I have rapid regenerative abilities," The girl condensed.

Robin shook his head, "She's being modest. Last night she was able to come back from a bullet to the head."

The bird was met with curious glances that quickly got turned to Avery. She rubbed her neck with her left hand out of nervousness. Doing so caused her left sleeve to slide down her arm a bit. Just barely showing a bit of the black numbers hiding under the fabric.

La'gaan asked, "What's on your arm?"

Avery quickly moved her arm straight down to her side so the sleeve would go back down. "Ah, that is just something I wrote on my arm," She lied easily. In the past that was her most common lie for the tattoo.

Nightwing choose that moment to interrupt so as not to reveal anything on accident, "We can all ask Avery whatever we want later. No mission today so everyone's free to do whatever. Robin," He addressed his younger "brother", "Could you show Avery to her room? It's gonna be the spare next to yours actually. Thanks."

Robin could tell there was no way he was getting out of the task. But what annoyed him to his core was that his next door neighbor would be Avery, permanently. "Sure," He ground out. He then walked down a hallway with Avery left to follow behind him.

Everyone left to do what they wished, but Nightwing grabbed Impulse by the collar and made him stay in place until everyone left the room.

"You already know everything about her, don't you?" Nightwing questioned the younger boy.

"Yeah," The boy responded easily.

"I'm going to make this clear right now. You are not to say anything about her past to anyone on the Team until Avery decides to tell everyone herself. It was her one condition for joining and I'd rather not break it," Nightwing snapped into the firm leader he's supposed to be.

Bart snapped into a salute, "Yes sir!" With that he sped off.

Nightwing sighed and wondered how long Bart's agreement in the situation was going to last.

Back with Robin and Avery, the two were going through the halls with Robin pointing out what room was who's until they finally stopped in front of a door. "This one's yours," The bird said.

With a press of a button the metal door slid to the side and revealed a room that was almost empty. There was a full sized bed on a metal frame fitted in the left corner and just across from the door. Besides the bed there was a mahogany bookshelf and desk complete with chair against the right wall. Just to the right of the edge of the desk were two closed doors. The far wall of the room was jagged from the brown rock it was made of. The three other flat walls were a startling white. There were no windows in the room, just a single bare light bulb installed in the ceiling.

Avery took a step in the room slowly, then another and another until she was standing in the center. "This is wonderful!" She cried out happily.

"It's just your room," Robin leaned against the doorway.

"Exactly, I have never had my own room before, that is why this is so wonderful," Avery pointed out.

Robin raised an eyebrow, "You've never had a room to yourself?"

"No, I have always had another person in the room. First it was siblings, and then others as time progressed. Well, if I was not sleeping in a gutter at the time."

"Siblings?" Robin questioned.

"I have a brother who is five years older than me and I had a sister two years older than me. Being the youngest child had its benefits though, even if I did not have my own room."

"So you _have_ a brother but you _had_ a sister. Is he still alive?"

"Yes, he left to America before the war reached us. He started his own family here. I have kept tabs on them for a while. So by that I know he is still alive, although he is confined to a hospital bed at this point in time. My sister regrettably died in the camp we were confined to," Avery held a remorseful expression on her face.

"Does he know you're alive?"

"No, and he will die believing that I died along with my sister and father in that camp."

Robin stepped in the door and it closed behind him, "Why not tell him? It would be pretty great to know part of your family's still alive," He asked with force.

"In a way, I did die in that camp. Besides, I am not about to go to him and let him think he has finally gone senile with old age. He would still see the fifteen year old I have been frozen as."

"So that justifies him thinking that you're dead?" The bird asked like it was the stupidest concept he'd ever heard.

"Birdy, this is not your matter to interfere in," Avery growled with finality.

"I'm just saying-" He was cut off.

"I should not have even mentioned my family. That was my mistake, stop talking now or I will be forced to make another," The black haired girl warned in a low voice.

"Is that a threat?" Robin challenged.

Three quick raps resounded off the door. They could hear Nightwing's voice from outside it, "I come bearing gifts!"

Avery brushed past Robin with a scowl and opened the door, "Yes?" She tried to sound polite.

Nightwing held out a small pile of folded clothes, "The girls put some clothes together for you until you can get your own. They might be a little big," He took note of Avery's shorter stature compared to the other girls on the Team, "But it's the best we've got right now." The team leader put them in Avery's extended arms and invited himself into her room.

"Yes, do come in," She muttered as the door slid closed.

"Alright, there's just a few things to cover here," Nightwing started off as he sat in the desk chair. "Bart knows who you are. He's agreed to keep his mouth shut, but we don't know how long that'll last. And the story with you writing on your arm isn't going to last for long. Really, the odds for your past staying a secret aren't in your favor."

"Sadly, I figured as much," Avery agreed.

"You still get to choose when you get to tell and how, but really, the sooner the better."

Avery nodded in response.

"Okay, and basic rules now. The kitchen is open to everyone, as is the living room, training room and etcetera. You're not supposed to go in anyone else's room after ten p.m. And if you have to go in anyone's room anyways, just ask first. There's the obvious 'no telling anyone you're a hero' rule. But you won't need that just yet. And specifically to you, you aren't allowed to leave here unless you're with someone on the Team or one of the Leaguers. So if you want to go to the mall or something just ask someone around here, they'll probably go with you. Although you're allowed to go to the secluded beach we have in case you're going a little stir crazy."

"So I am basically under house arrest?" She pondered.

"Yup, it won't be forever though, so no worries."

"Is that all?"

"Just one more thing. The girls want to take you to the mall this afternoon to go shopping for a more permanent wardrobe and anything you'd like for your room. Think of it as a girls' day. You can shower in there," He jerked a thumb at one of the doors, which must be a bathroom, "And then go talk to them about when you want to leave."

"There is only one problem. I do not have any money."

Nightwing got a wicked smile on his face, "Your shopping trip will be funded by Batman. Feel free to go wild."

"I will keep that in mind," Avery smirked.

**A/N: Semi-long chapter with this quick update. Goodness gracious, I swear I don't mean to write so much angsty stuff when Robin and Avery talk. It just happens whenever they're talking one on one. I don't mean to! Well, I'm gonna go watch YJ (hiatus is finally over!) now, have a nice day.**

**Read. **_**Review**_**. Enjoy.**


	6. Brunch

Avery quickly shooed both of the boys out of her room so she could get ready for the day. Once they were gone she set her bag and the clothes she was borrowing on the desk. She took a curious glance in both of the doors in her room. One revealed an empty closet and the other offered a full bathroom with a clean towel, soap, and small travel sized containers of shampoo and conditioner sitting on the counter next to the sink. She sent a silent thank you to whoever laid out the toiletries.

She finished her little exploration of her room and decided she might as well hurry up and shower. The dried blood on her clothes made them stiff and uncomfortable. The feeling wasn't much better for where the blood soaked through her clothes onto her skin. Not to mention her hair; now the back was trying to stick together in solid clumps.

"Hmm, if I was not complaining about how it was blood that caused my situation, I might sound like a normal teenager," she thought aloud.

On a quick examination of the clothes lent to her before she jumped in the shower it showed that there was a red plaid shirt that had rolled up long sleeves, a black short sleeved shirt, and light blue jeans. Another silent thank you was sent out to the girls that gave her the clothes, although she'd be thanking them in person soon enough anyways. Avery grabbed the extra set of undergarments she kept in her bag and placed them on the clothing pile.

The black haired girl took the clothes in the bathroom and set everything up. As that was done she set the water to heat up. She placed herself in front of the counter, settled her hands to grip the edges, and muttered, "I think I finally found my place. A hero, it is an interesting concept, I will give it that. My father would be proud... I think. I am going to be saving lives, just in a different way than he did. That is a step in the right direction." She looked up and met her own eyes in the mirror. "Right?" She asked no one in particular. It felt mostly like an assurance to herself.

She sighed and looked down at her covered feet. When she looked back at the mirror her own image was too fogged up to see clearly. Deciding that she was wasting too much time as is, she finally took her shower. As the copper colored water went down the drain Avery hoped she made the right choice of joining the Team.

_.:Back to Life:._

Cassie and M'gann were sitting at the kitchen counter, staring at a little plastic rectangle. Barbra was across from them, albeit less impressed.

Wonder Girl finally spoke, "Nightwing's nuts, right? He gave us a credit card with no limit just to go shopping at the mall."

Barbra smirked, "Nightwing's always been a little off, but that's beside the point." She picked up the card and twirled it between her fingers. "We get to use this too."

"Hopefully Karen can come as well; she should be back this afternoon," M'gann looked at the clock on the wall, which read 11:47.

"Then we should wait to go until she arrives," said a voice from behind M'gann and Cassie.

They both jumped while Barbra laughed. Both girls turned to see Avery standing there with a panicked expression.

"I did not mean to scare you! I apologize!" She rushed out.

"No, it's fine, we're surprisingly used to the bejezzus being scared out of us. It comes with living with some of the Bat-Clan," M'gann was quick to point out.

"You're good with stealth though, that'll come in handy," Barbra assured.

Cassie rested her forehead against the cool counter, "Not another person sneaking around the Cave; three's enough."

"I will try to make my presence known next time. But for now I blame my socks," Avery looked down to the fluffy blue socks on her feet. "Thank you for the clothing you have lent me also," she addressed the three.

"No problem," Cassie smiled widely.

Barbra smiled also, "You're welcome. Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

Avery shook her head no.

M'gann took her cue as the resident cook, "It'd be more like lunch at this point, but are you hungry?"

Avery didn't have to answer with words as her stomach made a conveniently timed rumble. She chuckled lightly, "That would be a yes."

_.:Back to Life:._

The girls were all making small talk in the kitchen when the zeta tubes interrupted the conversation.

**Recognized: Bumblebee B17, Mal Duncan A10**

'Come meet our new member, we're in the kitchen,' M'gann sent out mentally to the two.

The couple looked at each other briefly and went off to the kitchen. There they found Cassie, Barbra, M'gann and a new girl with straight black hair, bright blue-green eyes, and thick glasses. They were all munching on French toast, which seemed a little odd in the afternoon, but they've seen weirder.

M'gann smiled brightly when the couple walked into the kitchen, "Mal, Karen, this is Avery, our newest member."

Avery put down her piece of toast and waved since she was still chewing. She swallowed the bit and spoke up, "Hello."

Mal stepped towards Avery, "Welcome to the Team," He extended his fist for a fist bump instead of a conventional hand-shake.

Avery flinched slightly at the fist that came towards her. She realized her mistake and quickly remembered that teens of this generation do the action of bumping fists as a greeting. She bumped her own fist against Mal's larger one. "Thank you for the welcome," she smiled.

Karen came up behind her boyfriend, "I'm glad there's another girl on the Team."

"Aren't all of us?" Barbra asked and laughed lightly.

The other girls in the room laughed also. Mal even gave a quick chuckle.

M'gann quickly got things back in hand, "We're going shopping later today. Want to make a girls' day of it?"

Karen looked to her boyfriend; they had planned to watch a movie later tonight to complete their personal day, but that was still hours away. "Would it be alright? We'll still have time to watch that movie later."

Mal gave his consent. "Go ahead. I'll spend time with the guys here until you get back." With that Mal went off to go find some of the other guys, which he assumed would be in the training room.

Barbra waited for Mal to be gone before telling Karen the best part, "And our little shopping trip is being funded by none other than Batman himself. We can buy anything."

A devious smile came across Bee's face, "Then what are we waiting for?"

**A/N: I think I'm just stalling with the shopping chapter. Don't worry that'll be written next though (along with the guys getting their own section because I imagine that'll be pretty fun to write). Well school's starting back up again in about seven hours and I haven't slept yet. So I'm signing off. All of you, have a nice day.**

**Read. _Review_. Enjoy.**


	7. Credit

Avery sighed as the Bio-Ship (she nearly had a stroke when she saw it at first) landed near the Happy Harbor Mall. She was the only one out of the group of five that was honestly not looking forward to shopping, but she went along with it nonetheless.

Karen, who was sitting next to the newcomer, laughed slightly, "Don't worry; we won't let you get mobbed by any mall-goers."

"Yes, because the power-walkers are the target of my concerns," Avery exited along with the others, keeping her thought at a whisper.

The second they stepped into the mall M'gann started on a barrage of questions, "What store do you want to go to first? What kind of style do you even like? What colors too?"

Avery looked on at the Martian with marginal concern. She could survive any physical trauma, but shopping seemed to fall somewhere in the category of 'this might kill you'. "Um, let us try that store first," She pointed to an appropriate looking store to their left. The sign above the door read Forever 19.

M'gann deflated a little, but agreed quickly.

The group quickly went into the store and started browsing through racks. M'gann was working on helping Avery since all of her own clothing was organic, and shopping for herself wouldn't quite work here. "Anything specific you want?" She asked the black haired girl.

"Long sleeves, preferably pants to skirts, and muted colors. Nothing bright or in the neon range, please," Avery was working on leafing through a rack of sweaters.

"Do you always wear long sleeves? Even in summer?" M'gann questioned hesitantly.

"Yes," came the clipped reply.

"Why?"

Avery hesitated for a moment, thinking about how long she had until she positively had to tell the Team. "You'll know soon enough."

M'gann took it in stride and continued searching through the racks.

Within a range of fifteen moments, Avery was weighed down with clothing to try on. The pile was a contribution from all the girls, so the tastes and styles varied slightly. Each of the girls, besides M'gann, had their own sets of clothing to try on. So when every one of the girls still in the changing rooms had a new set of clothing on they would all come out at the same time and share opinions.

All the girls went back into their changing rooms after another round of clothing roulette and began pulling on the new outfits for inspection. Avery dreaded the next item that was practically staring at her. It was a sleeveless dark blue dress made out of a shiny material. She put it on anyways, judging her reflection. Outside the door she heard small questions about if she was ready to step out or not. "Ready." She took a deep breath and stepped out with her left forearm hidden behind her back.

"Who picked this out?" Was her first question she voiced aloud.

Barbra smiled from across the small hallways separating the dressing rooms, "You're welcome, by the way."

Karen, Cassie, and M'gann looked over from the small debate they were having over if Cassie should get the shirt she was wearing or not.

"Whose heart are you intending to break in that?" Karen asked with a smile of her own.

"You're getting that," M'gann said as the final decree.

"What would I even wear it for?" Avery tried tugging the dress down to make it a little longer. It was right above her knees as is.

"A dance, a date, a party," Barbra listed off three of the most obvious possibilities.

Avery searched her mind for a verifiable reason to say no besides 'it will just collect dust in my closet'. She slumped her shoulders slightly. "Fine, I will get it."

The other girls grinned and went back for another outfit to try on.

They quickly finished after that and checked out. The look on the cashier's face was priceless at the amount of clothing they were buying. Let's just say the girls all got pretty great customer service for the next year because of that purchase.

The group moved on to multiple stores, buying quite a bit at each store. Everything ranged from jewelry to shirts to shoes. They even stopped in one beauty store to buy shampoo, conditioner, and soap for the obvious uses. M'gann even managed to sneak in some makeup for Avery's sake into that check-out, despite a certain someone's protests against makeup in general.

They were headed to the last store of the day when Avery suddenly stopped, staring at one store in particular; an art store. "Go on ahead," She waved the others off, "I have enough clothes and you would most likely get bored here."

Babs fished a communicator out of her jeans pocket and tossed it. "Call us when you're done and we'll meet you back here."

"Will do," Avery caught the device and raced into the store, despite being weighed down with bags.

"So she likes art," M'gann filed the information away, one of the only tidbits she's learned about the girl.

_.:Back to Life:._

The girls all arrived back at the Cave with shopping bags galore.

Nightwing caught up with them trying to take the bags out of the Bio-Ship. "What did you do? Buy out the mall?"

"Something like that." Cassie shrugged as she unloaded more bags. Distinct piles as to whose was whose were starting to form.

"Wow," Nightwing let out a low whistle.

Barbra flicked her wrist and sent the credit card responsible for the shopping spree back at Nightwing. "Make sure to tell Bats we say thanks when you explain how much we spent."

The vigilante caught the card easily. "So you sack me with explaining everything. Great."

**A/N: Hi there... Sorry this took a week but school has been kicking my butt. In the first week back I already had two projects, which is a major player in the slow update. But I got A's on both so I live to write another week. Also, on a random note, my headphones have been shocking me. Only the left earbud though. It's annoying. Not to mention they're fairly new, so it's concerning me about if they're broken already. Oh well. Have a nice day everyone.**

**I forgot to mention this earlier, but I got a beta for this story! I'm so happy. Creamtherabbit77 has beta-ed this chapter and the one before. So thank you's to my new beta (I love how official that sounds) for bothering to catch any of the mistakes I make.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	8. Laundry

All the girls had put their bags in their rooms. Karen had left with Mal so they wouldn't be late for their movie. Take-out was ordered because M'gann wasn't up to cooking dinner; the Team understood that so they substituted Chinese food for the regular homemade meals.

The food was delivered and everyone flocked to the kitchen to get their share before Bart did. Plates, cutlery, and cups flew to the table, courtesy of M'gann. Everyone grabbed their own plate and went about the open Styrofoam containers, grabbing what they wanted.

Once everyone got their share, some (Bart) more than others, they sat around the dining table. It vaguely reminded Avery of a family. A very rowdy and young family, but a family nonetheless.

Conner, who was sitting to Avery's right, nudged her with his arm. "Getting adjusted well?"

"It is a lot to take in if I am to be honest. I like it though," She amended and looked down at her plate. Three pieces of orange chicken were missing.

To her left, Bart sat minding his own business. The only sign of his lack of innocence was the slight bit of orange sauce on the corner of his mouth and not a bit of orange chicken on his own plate.

"Did you steal my food?" Avery asked.

"Nope." He grinned and plucked a piece of beef from his own plate, making a show of popping it in his mouth.

"Liar." She let it roll off her shoulders though.

The rest of the meal went without too much of an incident. There was, of course, Bart still nabbing food off of other's plates, but that was counted as normal behavior. Everyone put their plates in the dishwasher and it was turned on.

Before leaving, Nightwing made an announcement. "Black Canary's coming for training tomorrow at noon. Everyone be ready."

Mumbles of agreement rang through the kitchen as everyone went off to do their own thing for the rest of the night. Superboy went straight to watching static while everyone else headed off for their rooms. That earned a head turn from Avery but no question about it.

Avery went off to go start putting her new clothing away and take all the tags off. That took almost an hour in and of itself. Her closet was extremely organized when she finished though. Once that was done, she opened up the bag that held the bedding and sheets bought earlier in the day. As a rule of thumb she decided to wash all of that before sleeping on it. That would involve asking someone where the washer and dryer were.

So with her mission in mind she set off from her room to see if anyone was still awake. There wasn't any light coming from under any of the doors in the hallway. A good sign everyone was asleep.

"And off on my journey I go," Avery muttered to herself.

After wandering around for a while and getting veritably lost Avery found her way to the kitchen. Conner was in the living room, still watching the static on the television.

Avery cleared her throat to get his attention. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah?" He asked, eyes still on the television screen.

"Do you know where the washer and dryer are?"

He pointed to a small hallway without turning his head. "Through there."

"Thank you," she chirped and went to go see if she could even operate the machines.

With one glance at the controls on the washer she knew she was doomed. Modern technology is most defiantly not one of Avery's strong suits. It didn't help that this machine looked like something out of a movie based in the future.

Avery poked her head out of the door to the laundry room and could see Conner still sitting on the couch. "Can you help me, please?" she asked.

The Boy of Steel chuckled like he expected that. "Sure."

With a few swift steps he was in the room and in front of the washing machine. He pointed to a dial with three colored settings: cold, warm, and a mixture of both, "Water temperature." Then multiple other dials, "These control the amount of water put in, considering the amount of stuff you want to clean, the duration of the wash, and the speed of the cycle."

"That seems oddly simple for a machine that looks like it could take over the world as we know it," Avery mumbled under her breath.

"It's custom made at the least," Conner pointed out.

"Who custom makes a washing machine?" Avery had to ask that question.

"Batman," came the answer.

The younger teen shook her head, "That explains a lot."

"Usually does," Conner agreed. "So do you need any help with your stuff, or are you good?"

"Considering the possibility of ruining my bedding before I even sleep on it, yes, I would like some assistance. Let me just grab it quickly."

With that Avery ran from the laundry room and down two hallways to get to her room. There she quickly collected her sheets and bedding that got tossed in the corner when the realization that she wanted to wash them hit. So with all the bed covers in her arms she dashed back to the laundry room where Conner was still waiting.

"Is this all of it?" Conner asked jokingly.

"Yes," Avery's head nodded, although it could barely be seen due to the large pile of bedding that obscured her top half in general.

"All this can be done in one load, considering the colors," He said with the appraisal of the black sheets and the black and white bedding. He took laundry detergent off a nearby shelf and poured it into the machine. With that he put it on a cold, large load, with a quick spin cycle. "This should take about an hour."

"Thank you again," Avery said as she loaded the fabric into the machine.

"No problem, ready for a lesson in how to work the dryer?"

"Ready as I will ever be."

"This one is simpler." He pointed to a knob with numbers encircling it. "This is the duration of the drying time." He then pointed to a knob with words marking various speeds, "How fast the dryer spins." Finally a knob with more temperature designations, "And this one controls the amount of heat."

"Batman should start a Laundromat if the super hero gig does not work out," Avery mentioned off-handedly.

Conner shook his head with a smile on his face, "Just make sure to get some sleep, we've got training tomorrow."

**A/N: This entire chapter is inspired by how much I need to get my laundry done. That and go grocery shopping. Well, I'm gonna go fail at basic life skills like usual. So while you read I'll be tripping up stairs or cleaning out my fridge of old food. Honestly, I never expect to be a rolemodel at this point. Enough of my ranting. Training chapter comes next.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review. **


	9. Collarbone

**Recognized: Black Canary, 1-3**

Nightwing, in his room at the time, looked at his watch. It only read eleven thirty. Canary was early by half an hour. The leader went to go check why. Canary has a reputation for being on time, if not a few minutes early, but half an hour was a bit much.

The black haired vigilante met with the blonde at the zeta tube. "Hey BC."

"Hi Nightwing, may I speak to you privately?" Dinah looked dead serious, only keeping a polite overtone to wash away worry.

"Sure," Nightwing agreed and started walking towards one of the soundproof rooms of the Cave.

Once there Canary closed the door firmly and faced Nightwing. "I've been informed there's a new member on your team."

"Yeah, Avery."

"I'm not questioning your choice of members, but I want to speak to her myself. Batman told me of her past and I want to make sure she's of sound mind. I'll tell you every conclusion I come to, of course."

Nightwing nodded in thought, "Fair enough."

"Good, I'll talk to her after training." Canary opened the door and started heading to the training platform. "Now let's see how much everyone's learned since last time."

_.:Back to Life:._

Every member of the Team stood around the computer-run training platform in uniform. The only exception was Avery, standing in a plain green sweater and shorts with tennis shoes. Her glasses were temporarily replaced with plain contacts that kept her real eye color intact.

Black Canary stood in the center of the platform, "I hope you've all been practicing since the last lesson."

Small mumbles of agreement were heard along with a murmur of guilt or two.

The Leaguer chuckled and continued, "Let's begin then. Avery?"

The mentioned teen nodded.

"Let's see what you've got," Canary slid into a relaxed fighting position and waited.

Avery stood, wide-eyed for a moment, before Impulse pushed her onto the platform. The speedster nodded and shot her a thumbs up.

The black haired girl slid into a position mirroring Canary's. Once Canary started circling, so did Avery. Seeing that Canary wasn't going to make the first move, Avery tried. She charged, seeming to be going for the blonde's left side before faking and going to the right. Canary anticipated it and sidestepped before hitting Avery in her exposed abdomen. Avery fell on all fours as she tried to control her breathing. The computer dished out a "Fail" in the meantime.

With a new determination she got back up and charged again, only to have Canary drop and knock out her legs out from under her. Another "Fail" was delivered. Avery scrambled up again, still catching her breath that had been once again knocked out of her.

Avery rolled her shoulders before charging again with a new determination lighting her eyes. Canary struck out and hit Avery right in her left shoulder. A sharp crack could be heard that made Avery fall to the platform with a small cry of pain.

Eyes widened from the sideline as Canary relaxed from her fighting position and approached Avery carefully. "Are you alright?" Canary asked softly. Injuries came with the job, newcomers had to learn that, but it would take a little time to adjust.

Avery's head snapped up before lashing out with her foot much like Canary did before. She managed to snag the blonde's ankle and trip her.

As Canary fell Avery responded, "Perfectly fine."

Before hitting the floor Canary managed to flip herself back into a standing position before a "Fail" could be given to her. "Collarbone?" Canary asked as she crossed her arms, appraising what had just taken place.

"Correct," Avery moved her sweatshirt's collar to show her rapidly mending bone. "Pushing my shoulder further into the hit broke it. After the initial healing it was easy enough to push past the pain and make my own move."

Canary stood in silence as she watched Avery's bone finish mending; it took a little over a minute. "Hurting yourself for an opportunity to strike isn't smart, even if you do heal at a remarkable rate," With that Canary dismissed Avery and started pairing up other members to practice as she observed.

Avery sat on the sideline, absentmindedly rubbing her collarbone. Impulse sat next to her and pulled out a granola bar from the "cabinet" built into his costume. He placed it on her crossed knee with a friendly smile.

The newcomer accepted the food her body was asking for with a thank you. She remembered Nightwing mentioning that Impulse already knew about her, including her need for food after healing. Maybe somebody knowing about her wasn't so bad after all.

_.:Back to Life:._

The day of training came to a close after many failures and successes with trying out new moves or deflecting said moves.

Canary dismissed everyone to go have lunch while she pulled Nightwing aside into a soundproof room once again.

"Everyone has progressed from last time. Avery on the other hand is raw, untrained. At most, the only fighting she's ever done is on the street against untrained thugs. She relies on her healing entirely too much in a fight," Canary got straight to the point on her assessment of the day.

"She's eager to learn though, even you can see that," Nightwing pointed out.

"True, but that's why she must be trained correctly so as not to learn improper techniques."

"Agreed, now is that all?" Nightwing was at the door, ready to go eat lunch himself.

"Yes, please send Avery back here when she's done," With that Canary sat down in the familiar green chair and began waiting.

It only took a few minutes for Avery to open the door and step in, "You wanted to see me?"

Canary cleared her throat and offered the seat across from her, "Yes, I wish to talk to you."

Avery settled into the green seat, "About what exactly?"

An even gaze was Canary's response until she opened her mouth, "You."

**A/N: Hi there readers, first thing I want to address is the number of reviews from last chapter. Only four, which is a little disappointing to say the least. This story continues to increase in popularity, much to my own surprise, but I do wish to recieve feedback to know I'm going in a pleasing direction with the story. **

**Well here's my little weekly post, I apologize for any mistakes as my Beta is busy. Therapy session next chapter. As this story and YJ both progress I'm realizing how much I'm slowly but surely bashing canon in the face. Even as so, I'm not going to stop with said canon-bashing because I have a specific plan for this story that you will eventually learn as the reader.**

**On a side note, I scared the crap out of myself this morning because I dyed my blonde hair black and red last night. When I went to the bathroom I looked in the mirror and saw my new hair (which I love to death) and scared myself so bad I screamed. That is all, have a nice day.**

**Read. **_**Enjoy**_**. Review.**


	10. Therapy

Canary relaxed in her chair, crossing her legs and letting her arms sit on the armrests of the plush green chair. Avery on the other hand was sitting straight, keeping her back rigid with her hands folded in her lap. Both sat in a still silence until Canary prompted the conversation to start.

She clicked on the camera behind her and spoke, "I've already been given the cliff notes about your life, I simply want to know how to fill in all the blanks. How about we start at the beginning, what do you remember about your childhood?"

Avery relaxed slightly, allowing a slight slouch to contaminate her posture, "One of my first memories, and one of my favorites, is seeing my mother lying in bed on her birthday, we let her sleep in as a gift while my sister, about four at the time, attempted to make breakfast with the assistance of my father. The smell of burnt eggs is prominent in that memory. She was a beautiful woman, my mother, blonde hair and eyes very similar to my own. She died a little over a year after that memory from a disease I do not wish to recall. Her death hit my father hard and made him stoic for another year and threw himself into his work as a doctor, think of Batman with male PMS."

The last part got a small chuckle out of Canary, she also made a mental note to tell Nightwing about that line later.

The black haired girl continued on, "During that time my care was mostly dictated by my siblings. I was born the youngest out of three children after all and was only about four-years-old at the time of my father's lapse. My memory from there is a bit depressing. The next thing I remember with specific happiness is my eighth birthday when my family chipped in to get me real drawing paper.

"Where I lived, it was discouraged for young girls to learn anything other than how to grow up to be a perfect lady and find a suitable husband." Avery's nose crinkled in distaste, "Since my mother was six feet under for both mine and my sister's lessons, our rude neighbor, who had a dissatisfying habit of pinching our cheeks to make them rosy, took charge of our lessons. She tore up my paper and used it to fill the bottom of her parakeet's cage, annoying bird, I hated the thing."

Canary interrupted, "Is there any other reason you disliked your neighbor?"

Avery stiffened slightly, "Well, she liked my father very much. A little too much if you understand. She was married herself and my father still loved my mother very much even if she was not alive anymore."

"You were angry with your neighbor trying to attract your father then?"

"In a word, yes."

The blonde nodded in thought. "Were you angry that she was trying to replace the maternal presence in your life?"

"I suppose so." Avery shifted in her seat, "May we move on now?"

"If you wish."

Avery looked down at her nails, as if inspecting the length. "A little after my tenth birthday we moved into the country to get away from the city. It was a good idea and allowed my family to bond more as a unit. We lived happily for a few years, my father treating patients that came through. They only came to my father when they were truly desperate, but he did not mind, so neither did we. My brother left for America during that period, just a few days after he turned eighteen. We wished him luck on his endeavor and he wished us luck on whatever we chose to do."

"How did you feel about your brother leaving?"

"I felt as any twelve-year-old would, like I would miss my brother. It was the last time I saw him after all."

Canary nodded in acceptance of the answer and allowed Avery to continue.

"A few years after my brother's departure our house was…" Avery struggled with her words for a few moments, the frustration of simply speaking showed on her face. "Our house was broken into, I suppose you could say."

"By who?" The super-heroine prompted.

"Nazis," Avery answered back with a strangled tone. "We had heard of them breaking into other homes nearby, but the closest house was kilometers away by far. We thought we had no reason to worry. All the men who broke in saw were one aging man, and two teenage girls; also they saw the symbol of our Jewish heritage hanging off of our necklaces we always wore. For some reason they decided not to shoot us on sight. To this day I don't know if I regret their decision or not. Back to the story though, my father, as I mentioned before, was a doctor. A very valuable person, Jewish or not. He managed to convince the soldiers to spare him by explaining his expertise and then us in turn."

"How did he do that?" Canary asked with a general curiosity.

Avery scoffed, "By pure miracle. Although in my father's pleads was an opportunity for the soldiers. They, like any working fellows, wished to climb the authority ladder. Three Jews, one trained in the medical field and two others who read medical books growing up. We were a catch in their eyes. So they loaded us on a train not to soon after. We were sent to the internment camp known as Auschwitz. My father was given the job of being a medical assistant; my sister and I were general laborers, occasionally helping out with the likes of medicine and such.

"It is a known fact that female prisoners were used in a… a rather explicit manner by guards," Avery tripped over her words, trying to put them in an understandable order.

Canary interrupted bluntly, "Avery, were you sexually abused at the camp?"

The black haired teen managed a small nod as she kept her gaze firmly on the floor while she rung her hands. She took a deep breath then continued talking before Dinah could ask another question. "I was only fifteen at the time the guards took an interest in me. My sister, seventeen at the time, always tried to volunteer when the guards would come for me. They favored her also, she was more poised, beautiful, and mature; an admirable and desirable woman. She went through an unspeakable amount of torture, both physical and mental, every time a guard took her up on the offer. But she kept volunteering no matter what. I still hold an unbelievable amount of respect for the lengths she went to so as to protect me."

Dinah sat trying to resist the urge to call in Nightwing and have him sit in on the conversation. "You're not the only one who holds respect for her," She said. Anyone who would go to those lengths to protect their family _earned_ that respect. Canary gestured for Avery to continue.

"It is known that I have a rather bad habit of opening my mouth and speaking at the wrong times. Well, it is a familial trait, specifically from my father's side of the family. My sister did not have the trait as I and my father did, so she did not get in as much trouble for talking as we did. Both my father and I accepted any individual punishments we received for talking in stride, they did not deter us much. My father could not be killed because he was too much of an asset, doctors were becoming harder and harder to find. So were medical assistants, thus my sister and I were spared. The guards came to realize that, they also realized that the only way to stop one of us was to punish the other. For the last thing we wanted was for our family to be punished for our own audacity.

"The guards utilized that against me first. They whipped my father for my comment on how a particular guard may or may not have something up their buttocks. I did not speak so freely after that if I could help it. Neither did my father for we knew they would not hesitate in a punishment. But once, only one little time was all, my father slipped up and told a guard what he could go do when he was in private quarters." Avery chuckled slightly at the memory; she had been there after all.

She continued with a slight shake in her voice, "The guard had me in his sights in less than a second; he had a punishment in mind in half that time. One of the Nazi doctors on sight had a particular fetish for crude and lethal experiments. Dr. Mengele, the 'Angel of Death', he was called. Well he had been conducting an experiment to improve mortality rates in humans. All the subjects ever tested had died within days of the administration of the formula. So the experiment was concluded a failure. The guard asked the dear doctor to administer the remaining formula on me, guaranteeing me a certain death no matter how valuable I was thought to be.

"I remember every bit of the formula and every bit how much it hurt to become what I am today. It certainly is not an experience any normal person would forget in a day, or in my case, seventy-five years. Anyways, I was thought to be dead like the other subjects. The delight on Dr. Mengele's face when I woke up and starting fighting against my restraints was sickening. I had been the first and last success. He considered it an honor to be a success. He even nicknamed me his own 'Angel of Life', a paraphrase of his own moniker. I was his little eternal being and I hated every second of it." Avery unconsciously brought her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, effectively curling into a ball on the chair.

"How did your father react to you still being alive?" Canary asked tentatively.

"He was ecstatic. Less so when he saw the interest that Mengele had in me from then on. But eventually Mengele moved on to other experiments and all but forgot about me. Thank goodness. Then came the time me and my father lashed out again. That time we did it together, fed up about how little respect we were given when we were attempting to treat a patient near death. Instead of punishing us they went after my sister.

"They tore her away from where she was changing gauze on some patient's head and dragged her outside of the medical block. We too were escorted out by force. They stood my father and me seven feet away from my sister exactly. Without hesitation, they shot her in the head and gave us an order not to move. The only time we could move was when my sister's blood reached our feet or the next roll call. So there we stood for a little over eighteen hours, just staring at my sisters body, face down in the packed dirt, as her blood slowly poured from her body. In all truth, I still have nightmares about that incident in particular."

Canary checked the clock on the wall out of the corner of her eye, to her surprise they had been in the room for a few hours. So with the decision to quickly wrap up the session she said, "Avery, we've discussed a lot today, but there's still a lot to get through. How about I come back next week and we can decide if you want to keep up the sessions after that?"

"Sounds acceptable," Avery unwrapped herself from her little ball and stood up, shaking her limbs to return circulation. "May I leave then?"

Canary nodded and watched the door close after the black haired teen left. The heroine let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Without having to call Nightwing, he came into the room anyways, asking for a report.

Dinah answered as carefully as she could, "She's been traumatized to a level that would make lesser people give up on living. I don't know how long she's held all that in, but even talking about it seemed to hurt her, a flashback to everything she's experienced. I want to continue sessions with her, make sure she's alright."

Nightwing nodded in agreement, and then asked, "How bad was it exactly?"

Canary simply popped the memory disk out of the camera and gave it to the younger vigilante, "Watch that and you'll know exactly how bad it was." With that she left the room, then the Cave.

Nightwing stared at the disk in his hands for a moment before going to his room to review the footage. He hadn't expected half the things that showed up on that tape.

**A/N: I'm just going to end this really long chapter right there. I already have an idea for the next chapter so that should be up soon enough. Truthfully, most of the stuff in here is what I came up within five minutes. That, dear readers, is how sick and twisted I can be. I like this chapter in particular, mainly because we're getting back to the dark and messed up things that this character was made to be centered around. Angst for everyone! Have a good day.**

**Read._ Enjoy_. Review.**


	11. Sand

The moment Avery stepped out of the soundproof room was the moment she decided she needed a legitimate distraction to keep her thoughts from wandering further into the deep, dark pit that was her subconscious. The first thought to come to mind was throwing herself into a drawing and just blocking out the world for a little while. The only question was for what to draw. The teen remembered Nightwing mentioning a personal beach that she was allowed access to, not to mention it was around the time for the sun to be setting. Perfect.

So she made a path back to her bedroom and grabbed a blank sketch pad, oil pastels, a pencil, and a small blanket. With all the items in hand she started wandering towards any door that might lead to a secluded beach. In the efforts of not getting lost again she ended up asking the first person she crossed for directions, which happened to be Jaime.

The prompt directions were given. Jaime walked away in slight confusion at the odd look that Avery's eyes held. She looked troubled but most likely wouldn't have bothered to talk about it. So the Hispanic teen walked on to the kitchen for a before-dinner snack. Bart was perched on the counter, eating leftover Chinese food from the night before.

The speedster perked up at his friend's entrance. "Hey, her-man-o," Bart's poor attempt at Spanish was still a welcome greeting.

"Hey, _ese_," Jaime started digging through the large fridge.

"Sound a little distracted there, buddy, what's up?" Bart dumped his empty container into the trash and stood waiting for an answer.

Jaime turned his head around to see how serious Bart was actually being. Then again, if Jamie was ever not acting happy-go-lucky Bart got nervous he was going to turn into a Reach agent again. "Just Avery, she asked for directions to the beach."

"Well that's not a big deal," Bart dismissed and reached around Jaime to grab a soda.

"She just looked a little on edge is all," Jaime explained a bit better.

Bart effortlessly raised a single eyebrow, "After a therapy session with the infamous Black Canary."

"Good point," Jaime grabbed out an apple and tossed it in the air, catching it and closing the fridge at the same time.

The speedster opened the fridge and grabbed a second soda, even though his previous one still sat on the counter unopened.

"What're you doing, _hermano_?" Jaime pointed to the unopened soda sitting on the granite.

Bart grabbed the soda sitting on the counter so he had a soda in each hand, "Just some regular damage control, no worries." With that only a Bart colored streak was seen disappearing with a breeze.

_.:Back to Life:._

Bart found Avery sitting on the beach easily. She was sitting on a blanket with art supplies spread out next to her. Her bare feet were resting in the sand with her shoes sitting just off the edge of the blanket. As the speedster got closer he could see what Avery was drawing, the orangeish-pinkish sunset.

"Nice picture," Bart commented as he stopped his running right next to Avery, kicking up a tremendous amount of sand in the process.

"Nice entrance," Avery commented back as she tried to dislodge some of the sand now residing in her hair and clothes.

"I try my best," Bart shrugged and sat down on the blanket next to the girl, careful of not sitting on the art supplies. He offered one of the sodas as a truce.

She accepted the cola, "Bribing for forgiveness, are you?"

"Why would I need to be forgiven?" He cocked his head to the side, looking suspiciously like a confused puppy.

The black haired teen held up her sketch pad and box of oil pastels. Sand was stuck to all the surfaces the colored oil allowed.

"Oh," Bart rubbed the back of his neck, "Um, sorry?"

Avery laughed, "You are forgiven, I do not like this brand of pastels that much anyways."

Bart smiled, "Crash."

Avery blinked a few times in confusion, "Excuse me?"

If possible, the smile got wider, "The basics of my specific brand of lingo are as follows: crash is good and mode is bad."

"I will try to remember that."

"Even if you don't remember someone'll probably remind you, I kinda rubbed off on the Team a little."

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Avery mumbled as she tried to figure out how do salvage the picture resting in her lap.

Bart put a hand on his heart, "Honestly, I am hurt Cyla."

Avery's head whipped around faster than humanly possible, "What did you just call me?"

The speedster blanked slightly, "Uh…your name?"

The black haired teen looked back down at her drawing, "Nobody has called me by that name in a long, long time."

Bart grinned cheekily in response, "Maybe someone should then."

Avery wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her sweatshirt. She whispered, "Thank you, Bart."

"Are you crying?" Bart asked, leaning in to see if his eyes deceived him.

"No, there is just sand in my eye, thank you for that too," Avery turned her head away from the curious speedster.

In response to the head turn Bart speeded over to Avery's other side, "Crying isn't a bad thing. It helps getting things out of the eyes actually, y'know, like that imaginary sand you just mentioned. Or it can be a healthy expression of emotion."

"Bart, can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah?"

"Just please shut up." A bubble of laughter escaped from Avery.

Bart laughed unintentionally also. Eventually both of them just ended up laughing for another minute straight, holding their sides in the process. They finally composed themselves.

Avery wiped a few more stray droplets from her cheeks as a few stray giggles still broke loose, "What are we even laughing at?"

"Not a clue, but it's fun," Bart began drawing patterns in the sand with a stick he found not two seconds before.

"Yeah," Avery agreed in thought, looking at what Bart was drawing. "Fun."

Bart sat doodling for another few seconds until he was surrounded by doodles he had done with his superspeed. It also set a record for the longest time he's ever been quiet.

Avery, ever having the artist's eye, saw Bart about to erase all the doodles to start anew. "Wait."

"What?"

"Do not erase them. Just sit still." Avery flipped to a new page in her sketchbook and grabbed the pencil from next to the box of oil pastels.

"Do you know who you're talking to, Cy?" He quipped back, a nickname slipping out unintentionally.

Avery rolled her eyes, "You ruined one drawing. In exchange you're going to let me finish this one, and it requires you to _sit still_."

Bart stayed where he was but still said, "No promises on how long this'll last."

"Never asked for a promise. Just stay still until I get the initial sketch finished," Avery tried to speed up while maintaining quality.

"How long is that going to take?" Bart resisted the urge to start tapping.

"Another minute."

Bart counted down the seconds aloud until he was told to shut up again, this time without a please.

Finally, Avery released him without looking up from the sketch pad, "Done, just do not disturb the drawings in the sand. You can move otherwise."

Bart stood up, tiptoeing through the doodles before running the distance of the beach three times. Once he got that out of his system he sat back down next to Avery and finally cracked open his soda. He took a swig and sneaked a peek at what Avery was sketching out.

So far she had a loose sketch of Bart sitting in the circle of his sand doodles, with his head down and the stick loosely in his grip as the tip of it rested in the sand in front of his crossed legs. A cool concept if he said so himself. As his interest was momentarily piqued he continued watching Avery draw. More and more detail went in with every swish of the pencil.

Bart eventually lost interest as expected and went back inside as he deemed his damage control done for the day.

When he woke up he found a sheet of paper slid under his door. It was the now finished sketch of him sitting in the sand. It looked better than he had expected, especially with how well the black-and-white coloring of the graphite complimented the picture in general. On the back was a note. It read:

_We are now even. –"Cy"_

**A/N: I love this chapter and the last. Both for very specific reasons. The last one got more in depth with the character that I honestly feel is my best and favorite OC. This one because it was one of the first things I thought of doing when I decided to go through with this story. In all truth, I originally wanted Avery to be paired with Bart (even thought of a pairing name, EternalPulse. Yeah, I'm a dork), but then wanted her paired with Tim. Everything's just gotten complicated. I have to stop now before I start ranting on all the things I have planned for this story. Have a good day.**

**Read.**_** Enjoy**_**. Review.**


	12. Notes

Nightwing had gone looking for Avery the second he finished watching over the footage of the therapy session, despite the late time of night. As expected, she was sleeping in her bed. It looked like she was fighting off a nightmare, but until she woke up there was nothing he could do. Being woken up in the middle of a nightmare doesn't help, he would know. The end decision was to talk to her in the morning. So Nightwing went back to his room to piece together the remaining hours until sunrise into some semblance of peaceful sleep.

_.:Back to Life:._

Avery glared into her bowl of brightly colored breakfast cereal. She was up at sunrise, trying to get back to her normal schedule when not walking around at night.

"What did the cereal do to you?" Nightwing asked as he entered the kitchen, noting the girl's death glare.

"Nothing," Avery sighed and pushed the front of her hair back, resting her elbow on the counter in the process.

"Long night?" Nightwing questioned as he pulled the milk out of the fridge for his own bowl of cereal.

"Something like that."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. The only sounds in the kitchen were the ones of chewing and spoons hitting the sides of bowls. Nightwing was trying to decide if the blunt approach would be best while Avery was deciding how quick she could run out of the room before more words were exchanged.

Finally Nightwing just decided to get it over with and swallowed the bite of cereal he had been chewing for a straight minute. "I'm just going to be blunt here, so hear me out. You've been through a lot in your life, most of which I still don't know about. So I just want to make sure you're, y'know, alright."

Avery had waited patiently for the Team's leader to finish. "So you are trying to make sure I am not a complete mental case?" Avery was blunt in her own manner.

"That and that you are actually alright. Not just mentally, but emotionally too."

"Thank you for caring so much, but I came to terms with everything that has happened a long time ago," Avery kept her gaze on chasing the last pieces of cereal in the bowl around with her spoon.

The vigilante put his spoon down in his bowl, making sure all his attention was focused. "Avery, that's not what I meant. Coming to terms with something is different than being alright. There can be post-traumatic stress, sadness, even anger when it comes to losing those close to you." Nightwing was about to say more but he was cut off.

Avery dropped her spoon down, causing a little splash of milk to fly out of the bowl. "I am going to make one thing very clear. I am not sad. I am not angry. I am_ bitter_." Small flickers of anger flashed in her eyes as she raised her voice.

"Why?" Nightwing probably shouldn't have been prodding her, but this is one of the most emotional reactions she's had to something yet.

"I am bitter at the hand life has dealt me. If I had the choice, I would not be in this situation."

"What would you describe your situation as?" He prodded her further.

"A girl stuck at fifteen, although older than most others on the planet? A girl whose family has been ripped away from her by force, along with any semblance of a normal life? A girl who does not know if the cursed abilities keeping her alive will last another day? _Take your pick_." With that she stood up with force, her chair screeching its protest against the tile floor, and left the kitchen.

"Real asterous there, Dick," Nightwing muttered to himself as he cleaned up both his and Avery's cereal bowls.

_.:Back to Life:._

Bart woke up next from the few members sleeping in the Cave that night. He had found the drawing from Avery, or Cy as he personally calls her, and chuckled a little at the note on the back. Without a second thought he grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a note to slide under her door in turn.

He sped down the hall to Avery's door and was about to slip the note under the door when a noise to his right stopped him. Robin's door slid open and out stepped Robin himself.

The bird quirked an eyebrow at the sight of seeing Bart ready to slide a piece of paper under Avery's door, but he didn't ask a single question as he walked away.

When Robin's retreating figure was finally out of sight Bart finally slid the piece of paper under the door. For some reason the note passing seemed like playing secret agent. Making sure you passed the message and didn't get caught in the process. It was fun.

Avery laughed slightly as the piece of paper was slid under her door, allowing some of the remaining dredges of anger to disappear. The letters of the note dragged together, like the writer was scribbling down the words too fast. It created an odd mix of cursive-print writing.

_**"I think you still owe me one. I delivered a soda and laughter, free of charge. –Bart"**_

The black haired teen flipped the paper over to the blank side and grabbed a pencil from her desk. She scrawled out a reply before slipping it back under Bart's door.

Bart didn't see the message until he was done with breakfast. But once he saw Avery's measured cursive a smile graced his features.

_"Wrong. You got a free original drawing, which has to count for something. You still ruined my pastels by the way (and I'm still picking sand out of my hair). –Cy"_

The notes continued throughout the day, no matter how long it took between normal activities to reply.

_**"Thanks for that; it's crash. But you said you didn't like those. And please do tell me, who is the model and inspiration of that picture? –B"**_

_"You are welcome. I do not, but now I still cannot use them anyways even if I wanted to. Do not go getting a big ego now. –C"_

_**"Well sorry then, but I can't fit a soda under your door to bribe for forgiveness right now. My ego is moderately sized, thank you very much. –B"**_

_"Then knock on my door to give it to me, genius. So your ego is only the size of New York City, rather than New York State? –C"_

_**"Thank you, Captain Obvious, for your wonderful observation. I take offense to that statement. –B"**_

_"You are welcome, Private Sarcasm; I still want that soda if you would not mind. I am sorry (please bring me a soda). –C"_

_**"Why did I get demoted? You're the newbie here. I hope you like orange soda, we're out of cola."**_

_"Fine. Major Sarcasm? Thank you for the soda, orange is actually my favorite anyways."_

_**"I'll take it; has a nice ring to it. You're welcome, but now you owe me one for the soda."**_

_"Of course it does. Fine, but do not cash in that favor anytime soon."_

_**"Now who has the big ego? Why?"**_

_"Still you. I just do not want to have to get up besides the note passing."_

_**"Offense taken, again. You're pretty lazy, huh?"**_

_"I am sorry. Would the excuse about sore muscles work in this situation?"_

_**"You're forgiven. Not a chance."**_

_"Neat, I can go on living happily again. Darn, well then how about 'I just do not want to'?"_

_**"Hey, don't go taking my spot as Major Sarcasm. How about 'no'? P.S. 'Darn' and 'neat'? That's not what the whippersnappers say nowadays."**_

_"You can keep it, I like being Captain Obvious. You are lucky puppy-dog eyes do not work through note passing. Are you making fun of my age?"_

_**"It fits. Why? Would I succumb to a puddle of mush for you to mold? Maybe."**_

_"Should I take offense to that? Maybe, I will spring it on you later, see if it will work. Respect your elders."_

_**"Your call really. What'll that move be called? 'Secret begging technique'? Yes ma'am."**_

_"This time I will not be offended. Perhaps, it is a little lengthy. Hush child."_

_**"I'm so scared for next time, practically shaking in my sneakers. We'll work on it. Yes ma'am."**_

_"You should be. Eventually, sure. Quit calling me ma'am. P.S. Robin just told me I have individual training tomorrow, what does that mean?"_

_**"Please, I could run away before you would catch me. Crash. Why? It's supposed to be a sign of respect and all that. It means you're going to be really tired by the end of tomorrow, you should get all the sleep you can tonight."**_

_"Is that a challenge? Ma'am makes me feel even older than I am. Well then I am just going to go to bed now. Good night."_

That was the last note of the night, but certainly not the last note sent.

**A/N: PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE! IT IS IMPORTANT! Alright, I'm giving you guys, the readers, a chance to mold this story. There is currently a poll on my profile for who Avery ends up with by the end of the story. You have the chance to pick who you want. Please go vote, it will only take five seconds of your time. The poll will be going on for the next two weeks, so please get your votes in by then.**

**There, now that that's taken care of I want to thank all of you that reviewed last chapter for making it the chapter with most reviews! A total of 12! If you wouldn't mind, I hope we can beat that record eventually (maybe this chapter, please). That's all, I'm done. Have a nice day!**

**Read. Enjoy. Review.**


	13. Scissors

Robin knocked on Avery's door to tell her that it was almost time for her individual training. There was no answer, so he knocked again; once again, no answer. He was confident that Avery was in her room, considering that her room was the last place she could be. With less patience, he knocked on the door once more. His trained hearing picked up Avery speaking quickly in a language that wasn't English, and she sounded pissed.

Without a second thought he hacked her door and walked in. The door to the adjoined bathroom was open and the light was on. From his position, Robin could see Avery standing in the bathroom, still in her pajamas, with her hand clamped to her neck. As he walked closer he could see that half her hair was trimmed back to just touching her shoulders in a jagged fashion and the other half was down to her shoulder blades like it had been yesterday. Well, he noticed that and the fact that she was bleeding through her fingers currently placed on her neck.

"What are you doing?" Robin practically yelled as he rushed into the doorway to the bathroom.

Avery jumped and swiveled to see Robin standing there, even with the sunglasses, she could tell his eyes were wide. Once she calmed herself down from the initial scare she glared daggers at the bird.

"I was trying to cut my hair, but my hand slipped," She gestured with her free hand at her neck to give a clearer picture of what occurs when a hand slips.

"How does your hand just slip when you're cutting your hair?" Robin questioned as he leaned against the doorway.

"I will get back to you on that." Avery hung her head slightly in embarrassment. Even she didn't quite know how it happened, although she'll blame it on daydreaming.

Robin looked down at his feet and asked, "So how long is it going to take for your neck to stop bleeding like a broken dam?"

"Another couple seconds," She estimated. Then she pulled her hand away to show the last of the cut mending, "Done."

Avery washed the blood off her hands and tried getting it off her neck to the best of her ability. After a minute of trying to get it all off she gave up and decided to just take a shower later, along with throw away her pajama top due to the brand new red stain. So she continued with cutting her hair, ignoring Robin to the best of her ability.

"What language were you speaking?" Robin asked to break the silence. Batman had made his protégé learn a few languages, but whatever Avery was speaking wasn't one of them.

"Polish," She replied as another snippet of hair fell to the floor.

"What were you saying?"

"I was cursing myself out for my own stupidity."

"Glad we're on the same page, Sunshine." Robin smirked.

"Hardy har har, you are hilarious," Avery deadpanned as she sent a glare back to Robin through the mirror.

"I try my best."

"Shut up, Birdie." Avery snipped the last bit of her longer hair off. Her hair was now in the same jagged, short fashion that she preferred. "Why are you here, by the way?"

Robin quickly remembered why he even was standing at Avery's door a few minutes before. "Just a warning to be ready for your individual training."

"How much longer until it starts?" She questioned as she grabbed the dustpan she had ready to sweep up all of her trimmed hair.

The bird leaned back to see Avery's alarm clock, "About seven minutes."

"Let me guess, the person leading the training does not like to be kept waiting?"

Robin flashed a grin, knowing full well who was there to lead the training. "You could say that."

Avery stopped with her sweeping and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well thank you for only informing me _now_."

"You're welcome," Robin started to leave. "You might want to clean that up;" He gestured to his own neck in reference to the blood on Avery's, "Not quite sending the greatest message with all that blood."

"Oh, get out already," Avery swatted at Robin's legs.

"Don't need to tell me twice." Robin walked away, the door to the bedroom closing behind him.

Avery rolled her eyes and hurried up with sweeping up the rest of the hair on the floor. Honestly, no matter how quickly training was approaching, it couldn't just be left there. Once she was finished with that she checked the clock, five minutes left. With a quick decision she decided to hop in the shower and hope she was on time for training.

_.:Back to Life:._

Batman stood in the center of the gym room, fiddling with his own holo-computer as he waited for Avery to show up. Nightwing was already there, chatting with Robin. Batgirl was in Gotham, enjoying her day off. It was also Robin's official day off, but he was still at the Cave.

Robin called up to Batman, "Remind me why you're leading her training again?"

"I found her, I have to train her. At least that's the League's deliberation."

After a few minutes Avery sprinted into the room. Her hair was dripping onto her dark blue hoodie. "Am I late?" She breathed out.

"By forty-three seconds," Batman declared.

"You are not going to count that against me, are you?" Avery hoped aloud.

"I am," Batman decided.

"You have got to be kidding me," She mumbled, mostly to herself.

"Not kidding at all, and since you had such a great time running here, how about you keep it up?" He pointed to a treadmill off to the right. "It's programmed already; all you have to do is run."

"Wonderful," Avery muttered as she trudged over to the machine.

As soon as she stepped on it, it began to move. It went quicker and quicker until it reached a constant speed that Avery was struggling to keep up with after a while.

"How much longer?" Avery asked between necessary breaths.

"Another ten minutes," Batman replied.

Avery stopped talking and focused on running. When the treadmill shut off suddenly she fell off it. So she just lay there, on the gym floor, catching her breath.

Batman nudged the teenage girl with his foot, "Get up, we have to move on."

"Can I just have a minute? I am trying to keep my lungs from lighting on fire, thank you very much," Avery tried to wave Batman off.

"No; get up."

Avery grumbled a few choice curses, but got up none the less. "What now?"

"Combat training."

"I have to fight you?" Avery squeaked.

"No, you're going to be fighting Nightwing."

Avery felt like kicking herself. "Why did I sign up for this?" She muttered angrily.

"You can figure that out later," Batman said and waved Nightwing forward.

_.:Back to Life:._

Bart sat on the couch, watching a nature documentary on koalas while munching happily on Chicken-Wizzies.

Avery walked into the room a few minutes into the documentary. The first thing she did was walk over the kitchen and down an entire water bottle. Then she came into the living room and collapsed in one of the chairs.

"How did training go?" Bart chirped.

"I would rather be back at the camp than do it again," Avery placed an arm over her eyes to block out the light of the room.

"Was it really that bad?"

"Yes… and I have to do it again the day after tomorrow."

"Have fun," Bart teased.

Avery will fully admit to throwing a pillow at Bart's head for that comment.

**A/N: Hey there reader, what's up? Well yeah, here's an update, have fun. Don't kill me if it sucked, I've been having a few off days lately. The poll is still open for Avery's romantic fate, so go vote. Go on, go. I think I'm about done here. Have a nice day and all that jazz.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	14. Arrow

Nightwing sauntered into the living room with a smile on his face. Barbara took notice.

"What's got you so happy?" The redhead asked.

"Just got off a video chat with Artemis and Wally, they're stopping by later today."

Barbara perked up, but was still curious, "Why?"

"Well Walls is going to spend some time with Bart, family and all that. Artemis is stopping by to help with a little training surprise I've cooked up." Even with the sunglasses on, Barbara could tell he had that mischievous look in his eyes.

"So Wally is filling in for Barry, and Artemis is going to help you torture the newbie?"

"Not torture; teach. But after that we're just going to have a Team night and watch a movie."

"Sounds fun," she agreed. "But if Wally eats my popcorn I _will_ hurt him."

"Trust me; after last time, he isn't going to be anywhere near any of your food."

_.:Back to Life:._

"Entertain me!" Bart pleaded.

"Never," Avery said without looking at the speedster. She was trying to sketch, but Bart had interrupted that minutes ago. Now he wouldn't shut up.

"That's just cold."

Avery shrugged, "Maybe, but I am not the one who is bored."

"I'm bored because you won't entertain me, that and Jaime isn't here!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, it _is_ all my fault. I am such a horrible person. Oh my, how do I live with myself," Avery deadpanned.

Bart didn't find it so funny. "You're just messing with me."

"Glad you caught on." Avery went back to moving her pencil across the page.

Nightwing walked into the living room where the two were sitting on the opposite ends of the couch. "Good, you're both here."

"Something to do Boss-man?" Bart chirped.

"Well, you're both going to be doing some training today."

Avery groaned and hid her face behind a pillow. "Please, no."

The Team's leader chuckled. "You aren't going to be training with Batman."

Avery peeked out from behind her pillow questioningly.

"You're going to be training with me," he elaborated.

Avery groaned again in response and shoved her face in the pillow. "That is not any better!" Her exclamation was muffled from the pillow, but Nightwing got the gist of it.

"What am I going to be doing?" Bart bounced on the couch's cushions with glee.

"You're going to be training your speed with Wally-"

Bart interrupted him, "But I'm already faster than him."

"Yeah, but Barry's busy with the twins."

"Oh yeah, I should stop by and say hi to Dad and Aunt Dawn soon."

"Have at it, they've taken to hair pulling lately," Nightwing relayed the information Barry had expressed at their last meeting.

Avery looked up from her pillow, "I am officially lost in this conversation."

"Bart's the time traveler I mentioned when I made the offer for you to train with the Team," the older bird explained.

"Okay then," Avery blanked and watched as Nightwing and Bart wrapped up their conversation. As they finished up the zeta tubes announced the arrivals of a Kid Flash and an Artemis. Kid Flash was obviously for Bart, but who's Artemis? Avery tried to piece together the small puzzle and came to the conclusion that Artemis must be helping with whatever training Nightwing has planned. That could be a very bad thing.

A red head with bright green eyes, similar to Bart's, zipped into the room. "Hey cousin," The red head said with a bit of lackluster.

"Cousin once removed," Bart corrected.

A blonde walked into the room while the red head rolled his eyes.

"Well, stop procrastinating Baywatch, we've got future heroes to train," The blonde declared and pushed "Baywatch" along to the nearest exit.

"Yeah, I get it Arty. Have fun guys," With that the red head waved and took off with Bart on his heels.

"Sorry about Wally, he's… special," She tried to say the right word. "I'm Artemis, by the way," Artemis held out her hand for Avery to shake.

Avery and Artemis shook hands and they took off for the training room; Nightwing said he had some stuff to take care of and left the two to train alone. According to Nightwing Avery wouldn't need to change out of her jeans and sweater/tank top pairing as they wouldn't be doing combat practice, or anything of that sort.

"What are we doing then?" Avery asked as they walked into the gym.

"I'll give you a hint," Artemis started off. "If you know what Artemis is the goddess of, you'll know."

"She is the Greek goddess of virginity, childbirth, wilderness, and hunting. She's also usually depicted as an archer and huntress." The knowledge rolled off of Avery's tongue faster than she could think about her answer.

"Good answer," Artemis conceded. "Does that give you a hint as to what we're going to be doing today?"

"Archery?" Avery asked, scared that it could be hunting animals or how to put on a chastity belt.

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Telling you?"

Artemis responded with a blank stare.

"Telling you," Avery decided on and rubbed the back of her neck out of nervousness.

A smirk found its way onto Artemis' face. "Good, we're going to be starting off with basic archery training; how to set up a shot, aim, shoot, all that good stuff."

Avery nodded but curiosity nagged her to ask a question. "How is this going to help me with my training? I highly doubt I will be choosing to fight with a bow and arrow in the future."

"An arrow is a flimsy projectile. If you don't know how to shoot it correctly then it won't hit your target. You have to learn to compensate for the physical conditions around you; wind, rain, and so on. Learning how to compensate for that, whether you're shooting an arrow or throwing a baseball, will help you. Does that answer your question?" Artemis gathered a recurve bow and quiver full of arrows for Avery as she spoke.

"Yes, it does," Avery accepted the bow Artemis handed her and the quiver Artemis sat down at her feet.

Artemis showed Avery how to hold the bow and pull the string back a few times before even letting her touch an arrow. Once Avery got the basics down Artemis let her pick up an arrow and attempt to shoot it at a target twenty-five feet away.

Avery pulled the string back just as instructed and let go, just as instructed. Although the force of the arrow flying off changed the way Avery was holding the bow ever so slightly. The string instead tore its way down Avery's left arm, pulling away the fabric of her sweater and some of her skin in the process. Avery dropped the bow like it was on fire and curled her arm into her stomach, wincing when the wound hit the fabric of her sweater.

Artemis hurried over from her position of to the side of the room. "Let me see your arm," she demanded.

Avery shook her head and muttered out, "It is fine; it will heal in a second."

"Yeah, Nightwing told me about your powers, but I still need to see how bad it is." Artemis tried to pry Avery's arm away from her midsection.

"It is fine, I assure you," Avery held strong, trying to keep her arm where it was.

Artemis finally pried Avery's arm into the open, firmly holding it at the wrist to make sure she couldn't wriggle away. Then Artemis gently pushed the tattered fabric of Avery's sweater up her arm. Her dark grey eyes watched as Avery's arm healed completely. Then she stared at the tattoo sitting right there.

"You have a tattoo?" Artemis asked in shock.

"Um, yes," Avery hung her head, praying Artemis didn't realize what the ink actually meant.

"That's pretty rebellious," Artemis noted. "And it just heals back when your arm gets hurt."

"Yes," Avery relaxed a little. "My body regenerates the black pigment instead of my skin tone in that specific spot only."

Artemis nodded her head in understanding, "Does it mean anything?"

Avery blanked for a second. "What do you mean?"

"When some people get tattoos, it's for no reason. Others get it for a reason, like a date could be the date someone close to them died."

"Okay, I understand. To answer your question, it does not mean anything I would like to remember."

Artemis nodded, but didn't ask anything else.

**A/N: I have something planned for Artemis learning about the tattoo, trust me. It shall be good! Alright, well the poll's closed, I won't be telling you the results though. You'll just have to stay tuned to know which option won. One more thing that I forgot about last chapter. I meant to give the 100th reviewer a prize, but I'm a little late. So instead the 125th reviewer will get a prize. None of the other readers will know, simply because it is a surprise that won't be happening for a little while, at least until this story ends. So yeah, try and be the 125th reviewer and you get something special. Have a good day!**

**Read._ Enjoy_. Review.**


	15. Never

Artemis didn't let Avery shoot another arrow for the rest of the day. That didn't stop the blonde from continuing teaching. She went through the motions of teaching Avery fighting moves that Black Canary wouldn't have on her teaching dossier. Avery asked a few times to change into clothes that offered better motion, but that was turned down with the reason of having to occasionally fight in civilian clothing.

Nightwing checked in a few hours later, and much to his delight, Artemis was teaching Avery basic acrobatics. The bird didn't waste any time imparting his own knowledge on the subject. Soon the teaching team had Avery walking across the room on her hands. Sure, Avery fell a lot throughout the teaching process, but that's where fast healing really helps. Artemis and Nightwing were having a side conversation as their student kept going through the motions of getting back up, walking on her hands for a little bit, then falling down.

"Did you know she has a tattoo?" Artemis asked almost right off the bat.

"Of course, don't undersell me that much 'Mis," Nightwing put a hand on his heart in a dramatic fashion.

"Wouldn't even think about it. Just wanted to be sure you knew," Artemis waved her hand to erase the subject. "So who's joining us for movie night?"

"The Team, you and Wally are all givens. Kaldur said he's going to try and make it up from Atlantis. Zee and Raq might even make it; they said they'd at least try to."

"We're getting the band back together," Artemis smirked.

"Yup," Nightwing popped the p. "We're going to need a lot of snacks."

"That's always a given with two speedsters," Artemis shrugged indifferently.

"True, but I want to actually eat tonight," Nightwing bumped Artemis with his elbow teasingly, "Just keep a leash on your boyfriend."

"Hey, he's _your_ best friend," Artemis poked him in the ribs.

"Yeah, but I don't have to go home with him, thankfully."

Artemis narrowed her eyes at Nightwing. "Don't make me sic Spike on you," She taunted.

"S'alright, I'll just send Ace." Nightwing grinned fully.

"Touché," Artemis admitted.

Their conversation was interrupted by a crash to their right. Avery had fallen into the weight rack.

_.:Back to Life:._

Training wrapped up about an hour later. Avery got a pat on the back for walking the entire length of the gym on her hands. She accidently broke a small bone in her hand shortly after, but the success was the focus of the time period.

"Good job today," Artemis complimented. "You learned pretty quickly."

Avery shrugged, "Eidetic memory."

The blonde scoffed. "So you can remember everything that's happened in your life, and all that you've learned?"

"Yes," she sent a sideways glance at Nightwing for him to get the gist of how bad having a perfect memory in the situation would be.

"That's pretty cool," Artemis mused.

"Blessing and a curse." Avery did her best attempt at a carefree chuckle.

"True, you have to remember all the horrible math lessons from witch teachers," Artemis laughed, remembering one of the teachers she had at Gotham Academy.

Avery shrugged again and admitted, "I have never really had a math teacher."

Artemis stopped in her stride for a second. "So you didn't go to high school?"

"Nope, and from what I have heard, I am not missing much."

Artemis let Avery walk on ahead to the living room while she pulled Nightwing to the side. "You're going to enroll her aren't you?"

Nightwing put up his hands in surrender, "I've talked it over with Bats. Once we finish the paperwork she'll be attending Happy Harbor High. She'll be a little late into the year, but she'll at least be entering at the beginning of the semester." He continued walking down the hall, "You sure seem concerned."

"I've been taking care of Lian too much lately. Jade says I'm developing motherly instincts." Artemis scowled and continued walking alongside her old friend.

"I'll tell Wally to make sure you have a child of your own soon then," Nightwing snickered and dogged Artemis' well-aimed slap.

"Very funny, _Dick_," She seemed to mean it as more of an insult than a name.

"Well I thought so."

_.:Back to Life:._

Everyone invited, except for Kaldur, was sitting in the living room. The Atlantean had already warned he might be late, so it was expected. Zatanna and Raquel appeared a few minutes previous and were reacquainting themselves with the Team and the Team's food supply. The two Leaguers had donned their approval on Avery the second she smacked Bart on the head for stealing the bag of chips in her hand. They also gave her tips for getting back at speedsters in general. Tripping them and hiding the food seemed to be at the top of the list.

Avery fiddled with the sleeves of her shirt that she changed into before meeting up with everyone as Wally finally gave up trying to sit still and suggested a game.

"It's called the Never Game," He started explaining to the perplexed inhabitants of the room. "The rules are simple. Everyone takes a turn around the room saying a thing they've never done. If someone else in the room has done it, they raise their hand. It can't be anything ridiculous. Got it?"

Everyone agreed and the game began. Wally went first, "I've never been in prison."

M'gann and Conner raised their hands, claiming the reason was because of an early mission on the Team.

Raquel went next, "I've never had caviar."

Nightwing, Robin, Wally, Barbra, and Zatanna raised their hands. La'gaan shot them a distressed look. The five apologized and claimed it was against their will; the Atlantian didn't buy it.

Cassie took her turn after that, "I've never gotten a tattoo."

Nightwing, Bart, La'gaan and Avery raised their hands. Everyone knew La'gaan's tattoo was for the purposes of magic, so that was brushed off.

Garfield shot up in excitement at the other three, "You guys got tattoos? Can we see?"

Nightwing shook his head, "I've got an identity to protect, remember?"

The green boy rolled his eyes and went to Bart next.

Bart responded similarly, "Mine disappeared because of my healing."

"Can you at least tell us what it was of?" Gar pouted.

"It was a Green Lantern tattoo," Bart mumbled, embarrassed.

Gar laughed, "I'm so telling Hal and John about that." He turned to Avery next with a pleading face of a kicked puppy, "Do you still have yours?"

Avery tried to contain her laughter at Gar's efforts. "Yeah, I got it before my healing set in, so it is still there."

"Can we see?" He pleaded.

Avery looked at Nightwing for guidance. The only response was a vague gesture roughly translated as 'do what you want'. Avery decided to go for it. She pulled back her sleeve to reveal the four numbers. "It is not much to be excited about."

"One six three two," Garfield read off. "What's that even mean?"

The answer was interrupted by the zeta tubes announcing Kaldur's arrival. The Atlantian strolled into the room casually, exchanging greetings with the familiar members. Then he noticed the newest member sitting off to the side. The two locked stares for over a minute.

Kaldur finally broke the long, awkward silence. "You look familiar," He pondered aloud.

"I should," She retorted. Avery quickly forgot there were other inhabitants in the room and marched straight up to the Team's former leader. She looked at him with a mixture of contempt and gratitude, "You are the son of Black Manta after all, correct?"

"Yes," he answered, although slightly confused. He tried to exchange glances with the rest of the Team, but they were as clueless as him.

Artemis interjected."So I take it you know each other?"

"Not closely," Kaldur answered as it clicked where he'd seen Avery before.

Everyone waited for an answer.

Avery stepped away from Kaldur to sit down. "I suppose I have some explaining to do."

**A/N: Cliffhangers for everyone! Well next chapter is the much awaited one with explanations galore. This one included the headcanon I have that Nightwing has a tattoo. Sidenote, you guys are too nice to me. I'm serious. Best. Reviewers. Ever. There's still a prize for the 125th reviewer so look out for that. I'm already working on the next chapter so it shouldn't take to long to update. Have a great day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	16. Explain

Avery sighed and ran a hand through her hair to calm her nerves ever so slightly. "I have to apologize beforehand for not telling the full truth before." She held up her left arm for everyone to see her tattoo. She looked directly at La'gaan, "This is what you saw when you asked what was on my arm at our first meeting. It is not something I wrote on my arm and forgot about." Her gaze then shifted to M'gann, "This tattoo is also why I wear long sleeves, as you previously asked about."

"Great, now what does that have to do with anything?" Garfield asked.

"Patience," Avery reprimanded. "Now would you like the short version or the novel?" She addressed everyone.

Looks were shared and Wally spoke what everyone was thinking, "We'll take the novel for five hundred, Avery."

The teen smiled at the joke before starting. "It would be best to start from the beginning to explain everything, including my ties to Kaldur'ahm. I was born on September 1st in the year 1927." She ignored the looks of confusion and disbelief from those surrounding her. "That makes me eighty-nine years of age, I know it sounds unbelievable, but it is the truth. My birth name is not Avery Brave, as you have come to believe, it is actually Cyla Pela Chrobry. Although I still wish to be called Avery, please respect those wishes."

Everyone nodded in agreement to her request.

Avery continued, "I was born to a doctor and an ordinary housewife in Poland, both of which already gave birth to one boy and one girl previously. My mother died when I was young from disease. My father regretted not being able to save her and worked vigorously as a doctor to make up for not saving her. Mine and my sister's care was dictated to our neighbor, a rude lady. If anything, she helped me develop a tough skin. We enjoyed reading our father's medical books more than her lessons.

"A few years later we moved out to the country and stayed there. My brother left about two years later for America, we wished him luck. Sometime after that we were taken prisoner by Nazis for our Jewish heritage. They brought us to Auschwitz concentration camp where I was issued this very tattoo. It cannot be removed, trust me, I have tried vigorously. At the camp we were enlisted as medical help."

She took a shaky breath and pulled her sleeve back down unconsciously, "At the camp I was abused in more ways than I care to count. I would not wish the experience on my worst enemy. My tattoo is the gentlest scar I have from the experience. My abilities stem from an experiment performed on me at the camp by a man with the name Josef Mengele. The experiment has left me with the frozen form of a fifteen year old. I have all the same scars from the day the formula was administered. Even if a new injury counters one such scar, the tissue just grows back, exactly as before. Mengele never saw justice for the crimes he committed at that camp either.

"Not too long after the experiment's success, my sister was shot in the head before mine and my father's eyes. Around a year later, my father was dissected alive, as I was forced to watch. A few months later the camp received an order to evacuate. Those too sick or weak to walk themselves were left behind, so I simply feigned sickness. Ten days later the 322nd Rifle Division of the Red Army came. They brought food and enough medical supplies to make a difference. Parts of Auschwitz were converted to help accommodate for the sick, I stayed to help my fellow liberated prisoners. I stayed until the last patient left, most likely because I had no idea where I would go.

"It took years, but I finally gained the courage and means to travel to America. I saw my brother in New York, although he did not see me. He was happy, had a wife and two _beautiful_ young daughters. I did not dare to step into his sight. Seeing his supposedly dead sister is not something I want him to experience. His younger child spotted me as she turned to look at the shops lining the street. It hurt to see how much she looked like my sister and mother. The elder tugged her sister along and I saw her too, remarkable how much she resembled my father."

Avery wiped at her eyes as the memories flooded back into awareness, "I left as soon as possible. Hopped a bus to Chicago and did not look back. I met a woman there, Claire. She taught me drawing techniques during the day while her husband, Harold, taught me card games. He always said he let me win all those games, we all knew it was a lie. I tried to stay with them, but they noticed my lack of aging within a few years. So I had to leave again. I have spent the majority of my life drifting from city to city, trying not to make ties I will have to break off in a few months.

"I will skip ahead to avoid boredom. I could go on for hours about the people I have met. But to skip ahead, I will start at about six months ago. Somehow, probably a witness to my abilities, certain villains and enemies of yours found me on their radars. To shorten the story and retain a small bit of my pride, they captured me. I was taken aboard some black ship that dove deep into the ocean. My jailing was brief. It included a total of three ineffective interrogations as to my ability and a lot of stale bread.

"A few days later, this guy," She pointed directly at Kaldur, "Strolled up to my cell, unlocked it and told me to leave, even escorted me to an exit. I was the only prisoner aboard. He gave me the warning that I would only have a few minutes before someone would notice that Black Manta's high and mighty son was helping the lowly girl, I am paraphrasing of course. He told me that things were going to hit the fan soon, and it was best for me to get out now. So I took the warning, scuba equipment, and my savior's name with me. The end."

Artemis' eyes widened in remembrance, "You were the girl taken aboard a few days before the summit."

Avery's face contorted into an expression of confusion, "Why do I not remember you being there?"

"I was operating under the disguise of Tigress at the time," The blonde explained her past persona.

"You kicked me in the jaw for disobedience," Avery deadpanned.

Artemis shrugged, "I'm not going to apologize for my actions while undercover."

"Thank you for your kindness," Avery let the sarcasm roll off her tongue easily.

"All in a day's work."

Conner interrupted from where he had been processing the information. "So you really don't age."

"Last time I checked," Avery settled back into the couch.

"Any tips?"

Avery thought it over for a second before saying, "Deal with it."

"That's not very helpful."

"Thanks for telling me that," Avery fiddled with a loose string on her shirt.

Robin leaned over from his spot on the love seat to whisper to Avery, "You're going to have to explain to Batman why you didn't tell him this first when he comes for training tomorrow, you know that, right?"

Avery groaned and slid down in her seat, "Great, now I have my actual death to look forward to."

**A/N: Yup, here you go, have at it. Next chapter is going to involve a _lot_ of yelling. I'm not even going to address the events of Endgame in this author's note, that'll make me want to stab myself in the eye with a straw. I will say that Wally is going to continue appearing in my stories though, specifically this one. So in later chapters I'm probably going to address why he's still there and not singing with the angels. 125th reviewer still gets a prize. Have a nice day, if possible.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	17. Questions

Batman, currently Bruce, woke up from one of his rare sleeps rather early. Alfred had made him go to bed right when he got back from patrol around three; it was now seven in the morning. He decided it was late enough to head over to the Mount Justice to train Avery. But as he put his costume on he noticed the Bat-Computer blinking away, indicating a message. It was from Robin, a video feed. He opened it up and saw Avery talking, confessing everything she said to the Team the previous night.

The part where Avery talked about being captured by Black Manta cinched it. Batman ran to the zeta beam and set the coordinates for the Cave. He had a bone to pick with a certain teen.

_.:Back to Life:._

**Recognized: Batman, 0-2**

Nobody was awake to hear the zeta tube whirl to life and spit out one of the League's founders.

Batman charged ahead to the hallways that contained the bedrooms. He quickly located Avery's room and opened the door. Avery was still sleeping off the long night with the Team in her bed. She, once again, was tossing and turning with a nightmare. Not that Batman particularly cared at the moment.

As he was about to wake the teen up his feet made contact with something that crackled. He looked down to see paper, it was too dark to make out anything on it without night vision, but it wasn't important enough to look at just yet. So he returned to the task at hand.

The Dark Knight tore the blankets off the bed in a first attempt to wake Avery up. Apparently a first attempt was all that was necessary. Avery opened her eyes and blinked a few times to become adjusted to the light in her still dark room. After her eyes became accommodated, she sat up and looked directly at Batman.

"In my defense, you never told me what time to be up today," Avery pushed her tangled hair out of her face.

Batman promptly ignored the defense, "Get up, get dressed, and meet me in the gym."

"How much time do I have?" Avery scrambled up to go to her closet for workout clothes.

"Four minutes, thirty-three seconds," Batman answered and walked out the door.

"Wonderful," Avery muttered under her breath as she searched for her athletic shoes.

_.:Back to Life:._

Batman stood waiting in the gym, trying to figure out a way to talk to Avery without angering her to the point of not sharing anymore information. He had heard what happened with Nightwing, so Avery's already expressed anger at an avoidable subject. Now just to work around the ones that were unavoidable.

Being blunt in this case could cause Avery to put up her defenses and refuse to answer, so that was out of the question. It was almost like trying to put Dick back to bed when he was nine years old. You had to coerse, bargain, and plead to get the acrobat to sleep. Sadly, that seemed like the only option to deal with Avery without the situation blowing up. Just as Batman finished his plan, Avery jogged up in her athletic clothes for the day.

"Did I make it?" She asked.

"With three seconds to spare," Batman walked to the center of the gym, where large areas of mats were set down for sparring. "Here's how this is going to work today. If you land a hit on me, you can ask a question. When I land a hit on you, I get to ask my own question. All answers will be truthful, got it?"

Avery hesitated at the edge of the mat, "There was actually something I wished to address before training started today."

"You mean your kidnapping by the hands of Black Manta? I've already gotten the information."

"Of course," Avery rolled her eyes and stepped onto the mat.

Before she could react Batman struck out and hit her in the shoulder, taking his question in turn.

"Why didn't you tell me about Black Manta before?" The Dark Knight asked as he retracted his arm.

"Alright, so this is just starting with no warning," Avery assumed a fighting position before answering the big bat's question. "No useable information was extracted during the interrogations, so there was no reason to tell you if there was no immediate risk."

Batman faked a hit to the left and then swooped in with his right fist to Avery's torso. "If there had been an immediate risk?"

"You would have been promptly informed," The teen justified.

The costumed hero jumped over Avery's head, letting his cape disorient her. With Avery confused, he kicked the back of her knees. Avery in turn crumpled from the hit and fell to the floor.

"Is there anything else you should've shared a long time ago that you haven't yet?"

"No, and that was a cheap shot," Avery stood up and began to rethink her strategy.

"Who ever said this was a fair fight?" Batman smirked ever so slightly.

Avery smiled and went in for a hit to a nerve cluster right under Batman's left arm. Batman saw it coming a mile away and pushed her arm far to the side so she would keep going and lose balance. To completely throw her off balance he gently kicked her in the lower back so she would fall face first to the ground. What Batman didn't expect was Avery falling into a handstand to catch herself, and in turn flipping over to stand back on her feet.

"Good, apply the techniques you know," Batman praised ever so lightly. "Why did you come to me instead of any of the other heroes?"

"You know what loss is, I can tell. Any other person would pity me and treat me like I was fragile. But _you_? You see me as who I am, that the loss shapes who I am. You do not try to change me, at least besides this intense training. I appreciate that."

Batman nodded in response and dropped down and spun with his left leg out to knock Avery's feet out from under her. Avery jumped up just in time and landed a hit on Batman's back as he completed his spin and was about to stand up.

"Who did you lose?" Avery asked lightly.

"Parents," Batman struck out and delivered a roundhouse kick to Avery's right side immediately after his response. "How long were you observing me to know I've lost people close to me?"

"Observing, five months and seven days total. I have known you have suffered loss for two months and twenty-nine days."

The Dark Knight blocked one of Avery's punches and kneed her in the gut, "What made you so sure?"

"What other person spends holidays out when there is no criminal activity, and goes out every night anyways to make sure criminals know their place. You have something worth fighting for; there are only a few things that could fuel that. Loss is the prime suspect, as you try to make sure no one else is familiar with the feeling."

"Maybe you should put that brain of yours to work trying to figure out how to beat me, you might stand a chance."

Batman promptly sidestepped Avery's kick of retaliation at the comment.

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know it's just a filler chapter. I wanted to do a more content rich chapter but it wasn't working, and I didn't want to skimp out on writing, so I did this. Sorry if you don't like it, but better chapters will be coming later. Remember, 125th reviewer gets a prize, and we're really close to that number. Just something random to put in, I've gotten hit in the face with a volleyball twice in one week. That's not pleasent, avoid volleyballs to the face people. Have a nice day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	18. Daydream

Batman wrapped up training within a span of a few hours. He wanted to talk to Avery one-on-one before going to patrol Gotham for the night with Robin. There were quite a few things that needed to be addressed.

Avery was lying face down on a stack of mats off to the side of the room. There was a water bottle clutched in her hand that was hanging off the edge. Batman approached and cleared his throat to get her attention. In response she lifted her head, peeling her facial skin from the synthetic covering of the mats in the process. That earned a small wince.

"We need to talk." The Dark Knight sat on a smaller stack of mats not too far away.

The teen sat up and crossed her legs, "Alright, about what?"

"A few things, actually. First of all, you've been signed up for high school, which starts tomorrow."

Avery's eyes widened in surprise and mortification. "Is it not my choice about going to school? If you have not noticed, I purposely separate myself from other people. Shoving me into a crowded area is not going to do much good."

"You've done just fine with the Team," Batman pointed out.

"Still a small group of people."

Batman hesitated for a second, "Well, let me put it this way. You're going."

"Excuse me?" Avery screeched.

"When you came to me for help, you decided that I was responsible enough to make decisions that could impact your life. Going to school is a decision that I made for you. But it's for your own good, realize that," Batman explained.

Avery opened her mouth to talk, then closed it, then opened it again, "So you trust me to go out in public and not speak about how I live in a cave with super-powered teens?"

"If you do, we can write you off as crazy and pull you out of school. But then you have to stay in the Cave without ever being let out for the rest of your natural life. Seem fair?" Batman almost smirked at the expression on the girl's face.

Finally, Avery ended up gaining control of her facial expression and glared at the Bat. "That is not fair at all, but telling you that is just plain redundant."

"Glad we're on the same page. Now, you're registered as a distant cousin of Superboy's in the school system. It's just a formality and makes it easier to explain your sudden appearance in town, plus your likeness to him made it the best choice. You're still registered as Avery Brave, fifteen year old girl. The story is that your parents recently passed in a car accident in Gotham, as a few people can vouch for your presence there recently, and you've had to move in with your cousin here in Happy Harbor. You can make any more specific details from there yourself. Got it?"

"Eidetic memory, I already have it stored away and memorized." Avery waited a beat. "So in this little story you have concocted, I am just a little orphan girl far from home? Seems a little stereotypical-new-girl to me."

"It's the closest thing to the truth we've got. Unless you want to come up with something better by the end of the night?"

Avery was silent.

"That's what I thought. Now, don't speak about your actual past at school. Never associate yourself with any hero when you talk. In gym class, never live up to your full potential, but don't make it obvious that you're slacking. You can make friends with whoever you want, but you are not to tell them that you're a hero in training. Never-" Batman was cut off.

"So basically, live a lie, but make it seem real." Avery raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"New rule-" Batman was interrupted again.

"Never cut off the Batman?" Avery smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

"Exactly," He growled out.

"I think I have this down. Living a lie is the thing I am best at, remember?" Her smile morphed into one of remorse.

Batman gaped. Sure, he's lived with kids who literally just lost their parents. But he never was the best at comforting them. That was mostly left to Alfred. Being a parent has brought some of those skills into the light, but not nearly enough. So he said the best thing he could think of. "Maybe one day, you won't have to."

_.:Back to Life:._

Robin was walking around the halls to wake himself up. He had tried going back to sleep after hearing Hurricane Avery in the next room over as she tried to get ready for training, but that proved unsuccessful. So there he was, walking past the training room. Inside he saw Batman guiding Avery through the procedures for dodging a variety of attacks. Easy stuff. In his half-awake state, he found himself daydreaming while standing up in the doorway of the training room. His little drifting session between sleep and reality was pulled by a familiar voice.

"Looking in on training then?" Nightwing said a few feet from his successor.

"More like falling asleep standing up," Robin justified.

"Sure, excuses. Maybe you were just trying to watch Avery flip around." A sly smirk found its way to Nightwing's face.

"Just like you do with Barbra?" The smaller bird retorted.

Nightwing smiled, "Now that, I will admit to. But don't tell Babs."

"I'll just keep it filed away for later, thank you very much."

"Fine. If you tell Babs, I'll tell Avery."

"There isn't anything to tell. And would you stop trying to shove me towards Avery already?" Robin quickly retaliated.

Nightwing cleared his throat and prepared his 'big brother' voice. "Listen, you didn't take your break up with Cassie all too well. Maybe moving on will do you some good."

"I'm perfectly fine right now, don't want a relationship or need one." Robin tried to walk down the hallway to his room.

Nightwing pushed him back. "All I'm saying is to not get hung up on Cassie."

"Why? Because she's already moved on with Jaime?" Robin crossed his arms.

"Well, yeah."

"I don't have to be in a relationship to be emotionally healthy," Robin once again tried to pass Nightwing.

"I'm not saying you do. But I am saying to give Avery a chance." Nightwing put his hand on his "brother's" shoulder. "Maybe it won't be so bad."

"'Won't be so bad'? Have you seen how we act around each other?" Robin brushed Nightwing's hand off his shoulder.

"Let me enlighten you really quick. Remember all the stories I've told you about how Artemis and Wally's relationship started out?"

"They fought." The realization dawned on the younger teen and his eyes widened.

"There you go, my job is done; have a nice day now." Without further ado, Nightwing left towards the kitchen.

_.:Back to Life:._

Robin waited at the zeta tubes for Batman and Avery to finish up their training. Gotham had to be patrolled tonight after all. After a few minutes, the two finally showed up. They were wrapping up their conversation by the sound of it.

Batman gave Avery one final warning, "Be up early for school. Miss Martian will give you a ride to school and Superboy will pick you up."

"Got it; I will wake up and go to school like a good little girl." Avery rolled her eyes and started walking back towards the hallway she just emerged from.

"One more thing," Batman called. "I expect you to get good grades."

Avery gave a short wave without looking back as a way of showing that the message was received. "Have fun actually doing work in the field," She called back.

Robin scoffed under his breath, "Sure, then I get an hour's worth of sleep before I have to go to school."

**A/N: This is actually leading up to major story progression, so bare with me here. Also, if you celebrate Easter, Happy Easter. If not, happy Sunday. There, my bases are covered. Have a nice day everyone.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	19. Keychain

Avery woke up early just as promised. She went about her routine of eating breakfast, showering, and then getting changed into day clothes. In the blur of sleep, she didn't see the backpack resting on her desk until after she got dressed. It was a plain black backpack, nothing special. Attached to the front was a note that said "Remember" and had a stamp of the Bat symbol at the bottom. Hidden behind the note was a keychain hanging off the main zipper of the pack, it too had the Bat symbol.

"Maybe I should replace it with a Superman shield to mess with him," Avery joked aloud.

On closer inspection of the pack there was a main zipper leading to the roomy part of the bag. Inside it was filled with basic school supplies. There was a small pocket on the front, opened by a zipper. Inside that pocket was a plain black leather wallet with twenty dollars in the main fold. On a sticky note attached to the wallet it said "For lunch and emergencies only".

"Well thank you, Batman." Avery waved the wallet generously.

Avery looked inside the other folds in the wallet and found another note. It read, "Don't do anything stupid."

"So much faith in me," Avery huffed and put the wallet back in its original pocket.

She quickly put an extra sketchpad and colored pencils in the bag and lugged it on her shoulder. A knock resounded off her metal door.

M'gann called from outside the door, "Time to leave."

"Coming!" Avery called and grabbed the boots she wanted to wear today. She decided she would put them on during the ride to school.

The door slid open as Avery exited her room. M'gann was leaning against the opposite wall at the ready to go. If anything, the Martian seemed a little uneasy. The two hadn't talked since movie night, and it was just meaningless chatter at that.

"You look nice today," M'gann broke the silence.

"Thank you, I want to make the right first impression after all," Avery smiled hesitantly. She was wearing a loose black and white sweater with large, horizontal stripes about an inch in width. Paired with that were dark blue jeans bought with holes in the knees. On her feet were mismatched socks, one plain green and the other black with a pink toe and heel. In her hands were black lace-up boots that went half-way up her calf. Her black hair was sitting straight in its regular choppy style. The thick glasses Avery seemed to prefer above all else were perched on the bridge of her nose.

"Shame you didn't put on any of the makeup we bought."

"I do not know how to apply makeup," Avery admitted.

"Maybe I can teach you when you get back from school," M'gann offered.

"Okay," Avery accepted. "That should be fun."

"Yeah," M'gann quickly agreed.

They walked in silence to the bio-ship. They rode in silence until M'gann parked the camouflaged ship.

Avery finally gave up with the awkward silence. "Well, this conversation has been oodles of fun. Maybe next time we will not have to tip-toe around available conversational topics, hmm?"

M'gann nodded, "I just don't really know much about you, so when you were talking about your past it felt like I knew even less, if that makes sense. Next time we can just talk."

"That seems perfect," Avery accepted the answer.

The Martian pointed out the window, "The school is a few blocks in that direction, you can't miss it. You'll have to go to the main office to get your schedule. It's to the right when you go through the main doors. You're a bit early, but that'll give you time to look around. Good luck." M'gann smiled assuredly.

"Thank you," Avery smiled back and walked down the ramp of the craft.

As she stepped off, she noticed the deserted parking lot M'gann landed the ship in. No witnesses at the least. So Avery got to walking in the direction M'gann pointed. Butterflies fluttered around in Avery's stomach in anticipation.

"Come on, you can do this. Just a normal teenager," Avery whispered to herself as a pep talk.

Soon, she reached the paved area dedicated to students with cars. The teen stayed on the sidewalk and continued walking towards the front doors. The feeling of being watched replaced her nervousness for a second. But when she turned around, there was nothing there but a few scattered cars and people, nothing out of the ordinary. Avery shrugged it off as more nervousness coupled with her being the new girl. People didn't recognize her, which was reason enough to look for an extra second or two in a town where everyone knew everyone.

Shaking off any last dredges of nervousness, she walked through the doorway and made a right, as M'gann had directed. The main office was plain in view, complete with a sign so you knew where you were. Avery promptly entered through that door also.

Inside was a large wrap-around desk, taking up most of the small room. There were little off-shooting hallways marked with various names of administrators. Behind the desk was a plump lady with short, brown hair neatly done up in curls. She was tapping away at a computer and calling out instructions to a male teen behind her, who was shuffling around various papers on a side table, seeming to be looking intently for something.

Avery stepped forward and cleared her throat, "Excuse me?"

"Yes, sweetie?" The lady said with false kindness, like she's met too many brats in her day. Her name tag indicated her name was Ms. Joyce.

"I am new here. I was told to come here for my schedule," Avery tried to phrase everything kindly. It already looked like the woman didn't want to be here, why make it worse?

"Name?" Ms. Joyce began typing away at her computer, seeming to pull up student files.

"Avery Brave."

Within a few seconds the nearby printer was running and spit out three sheets of paper. Ms. Joyce rolled over in her plush chair and picked them up. She rolled back and pulled a pen out of a nearby cup. "Sign your name here please," Ms. Joyce tapped a blank line at the bottom of one of the papers.

Avery complied, signing in neat cursive.

"Alright, you have to get each of your teachers to sign this. Bring it back here at the end of the day and give it to me." Ms. Joyce put the two unseen pages side by side. One was a class list, the other was a map for the school campus. She began marking the classes on the map by their room number and the order. "Follow this to get around today; you can look around until first period starts."

Avery was about to say her thank you's and leave to try to find all her classes when the boy who was shuffling through the papers turned around and interrupted her.

"I can show her around Ms. J."

The boy had dark brown hair loosely covering his forehead in waves. Even from where she was standing, Avery could see he had bright green eyes. His easy going smile complete with dimples would've made a lesser female swoon. His lightly colored skin was marked with a few freckles here and there; not just on his face, but on his exposed arms too. He proudly displayed the Flash shirt he wore. His jeans were a little dirty with grass stains that looked like they would never come out on the knees. All in all, he looked like one of those pretty-boys you see on TV, and on occasion, in real life.

"Did you finish your work over there, David?" Ms. Joyce turned around in her chair to look at the boy.

"Sure did, even sorted through the club flyers." He flashed another pretty-boy smile.

"Fine," Ms. Joyce didn't look like she cared if he finished his work either way anyways. She in turn went back to tapping away on her computer as David led Avery back out the office doors so they could speak freely.

Once outside, David snatched the papers out of Avery's hands and began studying them. "First period, English Honors. Second, gym. Third, Geometry Honors. First lunch. Fourth, Biology Honors. Fifth, art. Sixth, History Honors. That's a whole lot of honors classes you've got there. Kid genius or something?"

Avery chuckled. "More like high expectations."

"Either way, we've got first, fourth, and history together. Along with lunch." David scanned the schedule again, looking specifically at the room numbers. "Ready for the grand tour then?"

"As ready as I will ever be," Avery shrugged and gestured for David to lead the way.

After a few seconds of silence David broke it yet again. "New to Happy Harbor?"

"Yeah, if it was not obvious by my cluelessness," Avery joked.

"Where'd ya live before moving to this small slice of hometown heaven?" David playfully elbowed her in the arm.

"Gotham."

"Oh," David's eyes went wide. "Well, that's a big change. Why'd ya move?"

"Parents died, had to move in with my cousin." Avery clipped her words.

David blanked for a moment, "Uh, sorry. Who's your cousin?"

"Conner Kent, maybe you know him?" Avery was glad for the subject change, even if she still had to keep the lies rolling.

"My sister was in the same year as him when they went here. I never met him though." David changed the subject without warning and flicked the Bat symbol hanging off of Avery's backpack. "Superhero fan?"

"Kinda; they are cool." Avery in turn pointed to the Flash symbol on her tour guide's shirt, "Are you?"

"Not really, but I like the Flash. I heard he got a new sidekick recently too, Impulse. He seems pretty cool, I liked Kid Flash better though," David looked around at the room numbers until he pointed at one. "There's your first class."

Avery resisted the urge to snicker at his first comment. She was so telling Bart that later.

The tour continued until the bell rang. They didn't get to look at the sixth period room, but David just told Avery to wait at her fifth period and he would show her from there. There was also an invitation to sit with him and his group of friends at lunch. Avery accepted purely out of kindness; that and David just wouldn't shut up.

**A/N: Just a note, but all these characters in Avery's classes and such are based on people I've met in real life. So, yes, I have a friend like David, pretty-boy and all. It's annoying actually. He's also kinda a tramp, so that will be noted by another character in later chapters. Other note, my friend doodled on my hand today and it looks like a Sharpie exploded. I fell asleep a little bit ago for a quick nap, but when I woke up, the doodle had transfered to my face. I feel like Mike Tyson, because of the positioning...and that it won't come off. Well, have a nice day everyone.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	20. Snap

David escorted Avery through the doors to first period just in time. He took the initiative to tell the teacher that the new student had arrived. He strode right up to her desk and left Avery to catch up.

"Fresh meat, Ms. Williams," David smiled at the teacher.

Ms. Williams shot David a death glare, "Thank you; you can take your seat now."

David backed off but offered Avery a whisper of "good luck" before taking his seat.

"Take the empty seat in the back," Ms. Williams directed while staring blankly at her computer screen.

Avery followed directions without another word; she decided to just get her paper signed at the end of class. She sat down in the only open seat, in the very back corner of the room. The few surrounding students looked almost comatose from the early morning. It made her wonder how David was so perky, although she didn't voice the thought aloud.

Ms. Williams finally scooted away from her computer and stood in the front of the room. "Have you read _Great Expectations_ yet?" she directed towards Avery.

"Yes," Avery answered quickly.

"Good, you'll still have to pick up a copy to follow along in class."

"Uh, I think I will be fine," Avery said quietly.

"What was that?" Ms. Williams flared.

Avery directed the subject down a slightly different path. "What chapter is the class on?"

"Chapter thirty-two," Ms. Williams waited to see what Avery was planning.

The new teen began reciting. "'In her furred traveling-dress, Estella seemed more delicately beautiful than she had ever seemed yet, even in my eyes. Her manner was more winning than she had cared to let it be to me before, and I thought I saw Miss Havisham's influence in the change.' Need I go on?"

The few teens with their books open turned back to Avery with eyes wide. David shot her a thumbs up from the front of the class.

"That'll be all," Ms. Williams huffed and started directing the class in a hurried manner.

The class dragged on until the end of the hour. Once the bell rang everyone sprang up out of their seats and exited to attend their next class. Avery got her signature and left as quickly as possible.

David caught up with Avery in the hallway before she could peel off the left to go towards the locker rooms. "Hey, that was pretty cool. I've never seen Ms. Williams so flustered."

Avery shrugged in response, a small smile tugging on the edges of her lips.

"Well, I doubt you're ever going to need help in English. We've got a test coming up on _Great Expectations_; could you help me study for it later?"

"When?" Avery asked, trying to hide her surprise.

"Well the test is next week on Friday, so how about next Tuesday? I have practice the rest of the week," David justified.

"I will see what I can do," Avery said.

"Cool, well, I've got to get to math. See you at lunch." With that, David was darting down the hallway.

Gym passed without an incident. Avery was told to bring work-out clothes for the next day and that was that. For the day, Avery was allowed to sit on the sidelines of the gym and do whatever she wanted. That meant sketching. Without meaning to, Avery found herself sketching all the people around her. The loud girl playing volleyball without a care. The muscular boy showing off to his friends by shooting three-pointers. The girl with the broken leg, sitting on the sideline. The boy trying to flirt with all the girls trying not to mess up their hair by exercising. These people were interesting, even if Avery didn't want to admit it.

The bell rang for gym eventually, so Avery progressed towards her math class. The teacher there was a nice old lady. She explained everything easily and Avery took notes to aid in the homework assigned. The class went swimmingly, even when Avery had to ask the boy next to her if he understood the quadratic equation near the end of class. It sparked an easy conversation, questions about where Avery was from, what her classes were; simple things. The bell rang its song again once the hour ended.

Avery started walking through the halls towards the lunch room to meet up with David, but someone grabbed her arm and pulled her towards an emptier part of the hallway. Once the dragging finished Avery turned to see the person who commenced the action. It was a girl in her math class…Abby was it? Abby was tall with a fake blonde color to her hair. Her makeup was almost too perfect and her outfit was clearly expensive. Even the fake nails, that left small imprints in Avery's arm, looked well-done.

"Don't talk to Matt," Abby spoke low and even.

"Excuse me?" Avery refused to be intimidated by the girl.

"Matt, my boyfriend, the guy you were giggling with not five minutes ago. Don't talk to him."

"He said he was single," Avery pointed out.

"That is such bull," Abby growled. "He just doesn't want to admit we're still together. But don't even look at him, got it?"

"No, I do not think I have 'got it'." Avery felt a scowl tug on her face.

"Well you better, or your face is going to be rearranged." Abby tapped a fake nail on Avery's glasses.

A voice spoke up from down the hall, "Now, now, Abby, you don't want her to look as bad as you. That would just be downright tragic."

Avery leaned to the side to see the girl approaching them. She had short, boy-cut brown hair. There was a smile playing on her thin lips. The Union Jack backpack she was carrying was carelessly slung over her shoulder. She had a large red hoodie to combat the winter weather, along with sturdy looking jeans, and doodled-on sneakers. The girl didn't look like she had a care in the world.

"Get out of here, Reed," Abby pointed towards the nearest exit of the hallway.

"No, I don't think I will. Honestly, just when I thought you were above threatening the new kid, there you go."

"This isn't any of your business."

"It isn't any of yours either. Matt doesn't want you anymore. You're his toss-away. He's free to talk to whoever he wants. Leave the girl alone before I call Mayhood." The girl stuck her hands in her hoodie's pockets and pulled out an older model of smart-phone. It had a Coca-Cola case.

Abby huffed out a final breath before hissing at Avery, "This isn't over."

"Um, thank you, I think," Avery said as Abby disappeared down the hallway.

"No prob." The girl stuck out her hand, "Aly, Aly Reed."

Avery took it, shook, and introduced herself. Then asked why Aly showed up.

"David told me to look for you on my way to lunch since my third period is right down the hall. I saw Abby dragging you away and decided to cut into your pleasant little talk before she broke a nail," Aly started walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

"I take it you do not like Abby," Avery tried to make conversation.

"Not one bit. She's full of herself. Not to mention totally obsessed with her ex-boyfriend, Matt. They're an on-again-off-again kind of couple, but Matt called if off during winter break and it seems to be for good this time. Looks like he's finally gotten tired of her crap."

"Good for him," Avery threw in.

"You could say that again," Aly opened the doors to the chaotic cafeteria and walked straight towards a specific table.

There were already four other people seated there. Three seats were empty, but reserved it seemed. Aly took one of the seats and gestured for Avery to take another.

Aly went around the table introducing people, "You already know the Tramp," Aly pointed to David. Then she pointed to an Asian girl with long brown hair and kind brown eyes, "That there's Theresa, usually just Risa." Then to a Caucasian girl with layered red hair and sparkling hazel eyes, Avery recognized her from her gym class, "That's Marilyn, but we call her Monroe a lot of the time because of her flair for the dramatic." Then to an African-American boy with black hair shaved close to his head and brown eyes. "That's Nate. Everyone, this is Avery."

Avery nodded and smiled at all the new people but still asked Aly, "Why did you call David 'Tramp'?"

Aly laughed, "He is. He's dated a lot of the girls here at this school. He's pretty much our personal player of the group."

David smirked and wagged his eyebrows at Aly, "Don't pretend you don't like it, Sweet Pea."

"Don't make me vomit," Aly scoffed.

Marilyn laughed from her side of the table, "Don't let them get to you, Avery. I think they're just trying to repress their natural sexual tension." Marilyn then had to hold up her binder to keep from being hit by food by both David and Aly, although she was still laughing the whole time.

Risa unhooked the Batman keychain from Avery's backpack and held it up, "So you like Batman? I heard he was just a myth."

"Not a myth, and it is more of a memoir of my old home." Avery took the keychain back and put it in her jean's pocket.

Another guy came jogging up to the table, interrupting what Risa was going to say, "You'll never believe what happened last class." He then took notice of Avery, "Hi, you're new. I'm Jordan, call me Jordan."

"Sure," Avery smiled at the eclectic teen that just popped up.

"Alright, spit it out, Jor," Risa said as she popped a grape into her mouth.

"Well, Mr. Spencer was going on, lecturing of course, then he turned on the projector and there was a photo shopped picture of him and Mrs. Cronk on the screen. It was priceless!" Jordan kept babbling on and on.

Avery smiled to herself as she listened to everyone speak. Maybe she could find a place for herself here.

_.:Back to Life:._

The rest of the days classes dragged on a bit. Biology was simple; they were going over the structure of bacteria cells. Jordan had been assigned as her lab partner for the semester. Then there was art, which Avery perked up at. They were working on portraits. That day they were assigned with a project to draw a portrait of the most influential person in their lives. Then there was history, which Avery dreaded as they were just starting the unit on World War II. Avery got all her signatures and turned the paper into the office straight after school.

Overall, there could've been worse days. So there Avery sat on the curb, waiting for Superboy to come pick her up. David was waiting with her since it wasn't a far walk to his house, and it was the polite thing to do in his eyes.

They were simply talking when Avery caught her eye on something in the distance. A flash of white, orange and black. Maybe it was just the new caution that came from being taught by Batman, but Avery halted the conversation.

"You can go home, David, really. This is Happy Harbor, not Gotham." Avery kept her eyes over David's shoulder, where she saw the flash of colors.

"Um, okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow then?" David seemed slightly upset and confused by Avery's suddenness.

"Sure," Avery agreed and watched David walk off safely. Once he was out of sight she stood up and turned around.

Right when she hit the full 360 she saw what she was looking for. Deathstroke, not an arm's length away from her.

Avery instinctually dropped her back pack and took up a fighting position, "Why are you here?"

"Playtime's over. No more running, Avery." Deathstroke took a step forward.

"I beg to differ," Avery struck out with a punch directed for the taller man's face.

Deathstroke caught her hand and twisted it behind her back. Avery had to go with the twist or risk dislocating her shoulder. The mercenary placed a handcuff around the one wrist he had in his grip. Avery tried to fight back with her free limbs, but it was useless.

Deathstroke leaned in to whisper, "Game over," then promptly snapped her neck to stop her squirming.

**A/N: I'm just gonna leave it there 'til my next update. I've been leaving you guys cliffhangers recently, I kinda like it. Oh, and I wanna apologize in advance if this story temporarily gets pushed to the back-burner. Recently I came up with an idea that I just have to follow through on so my brain stops thinking about it. It's called Little Witness if you wanna check it out. Cool, that's out of the way. Now, once again, all these new characters are based off of real people. All my friends that are in the story enjoy being included, particularly "David" and "Aly". I'm gonna go watch the rain now, it never rains where I live, so this is a treat. Have a nice day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	21. Chains

Conner pulled up to the school's curb in his beat-up Ford truck. With a quick look, not a person was to be seen. Considering it was the Monday after winter break, most people were at home asleep. But one person should still be there, Avery.

The clone rolled down the window to his car and turned off the engine to see if he could hear the newest inhabitant of the Cave. There were two female voices off in the distance, but both were too high pitched to be Avery. He got out of the car to see if he could hear better, but there still wasn't anything to point him in the right direction.

As he stepped up on the curb to look around, his foot hit something, a black backpack. Curiosity overruled and he zipped it open. There was nothing unusual inside for your average high school student. But a peek at the papers inside the binder indicated that the binder at least belonged to Avery. Unless there was a mix-up in plain binders that day, it was safe to assume the backpack was Avery's too. Being closely associated with many a paranoid superhero, the worst possibilities started popping up in Conner's mind.

Conner quickly grabbed his phone, only used in emergencies, out of his back pocket and dialed a number not many people know. The answer came on the fourth ring.

"What is it?" Batman was quick to the point.

"Avery wasn't here when I came to pick her up, but her backpack was," Conner quickly answered.

There was a slight second of hesitation on the other line, "Is there a keychain on it?"

Conner looked at all the zippers and possible places to attach a keychain, "Not a single one. Why?"

"Get back to the Cave, _now_. I'll be there in a few minutes." The gruff order was delivered and the call was ended.

_.:Back to Life:._

Avery tried to remove the stiff feeling in her neck while recollecting what just happened. Death has a way of messing with memory, even an eidetic one. "Oh yeah, I was killed," Avery scoffed aloud. She tugged on her limbs, all immovable thanks to metal chains. "And kidnapped," She remarked, becoming a little angry.

"So I see you've finally woken up," A voice said from somewhere Avery couldn't see.

The room was dark already, just a lone light bulb hanging above Avery's head. It didn't help that her glasses had been removed. Now all she could see were blotches of color and anything had to be within a foot and a half radius to be clear. But it was still clear as day who the man in the orange and black mask was as he approached.

"'Woken up' is one way to put it," Avery remarked, venom seeping its way into her voice.

"What would you rather I say? Welcome back to the realm of the living?" Deathstroke taunted as he circled the tied up girl.

"No, not at all. Next time though, you should at least buy a girl dinner before snapping her neck and dragging her back to your place, only to end up securing her to a chair with more than enough metal to keep a human being in place." Avery glared as best she could as Deathstroke rounded in front of her.

Deathstroke narrowed his one visible eye and muttered with condescension, "Cute."

"Thank you, I thought so." Avery finally twisted her neck and cracked it audibly. "So, let us just get down to brass tacks. I am not going to give you the formula. There is no point in you asking for it."

"Well, people have a way of changing their minds. Let's see if you'll change yours, shall we?" Deathstroke pulled the gun he carried for more unmanageable situations out of his belt.

"A gun? You better have something else, because that is not-" Avery stopped midsentence as a scream was ripped from her throat because of the bullet that shattered her right knee cap.

_.:Back to Life:._

Batman was waiting as Superboy arrived in the cave. He immediately ordered the clone to hand over the backpack. As a confirmation of his own suspicions, he went over every inch of the pack to look for the keychain. Just as Superboy had said, there wasn't one.

The Dark Knight quickly pulled up the holo-computer available to the Cave and connected it to the Bat-Computer. With the connection established, he started a tracking program.

"What are you doing?" Conner asked from where he was standing off to the side.

"That keychain on Avery's backpack has a tracker in it. Since it isn't anywhere on her backpack, it would be a hopeful assumption that she has it on her person. If she does, we can find her." Batman kept typing without picking his head up.

"Of course it does," Conner sighed. "Should I get Nightwing or Robin or Batgirl, anybody?"

"Get Nightwing, only Nightwing," Batman ordered.

The clone picked up his phone and started dialing since Nightwing wasn't at the Cave that day to begin with.

_.:Back to Life:._

"Try again," Avery taunted as she spat the blood collecting in her mouth to the floor.

Deathstroke assessed the teen before delivering another blow. She's been shot, hit, and had a few bones broken. But she wasn't saying anything useful in the slightest.

"What? Getting tired already?" Avery wondered aloud at the mercenary's hesitation.

"No, but you are," Deathstroke countered.

"Excuse you?" Avery's eyes narrowed as her tone dropped.

"Your healing is slowing. You haven't noticed?"

Avery didn't speak. Her eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise, which said more than words ever could. She'd been too busy working past the pain of being beaten up to come to the realization. Her brain began whirling to find a way out. She needed nutrients if she was going to keep taking blows, otherwise the near future could be pretty grim. The chains were secure, no lock was in sight or range of feeling, Batman hadn't gotten to the advanced lock picking lesson yet anyways. Her only hope lay in the hands of the people she went to for protection in the first place.

**A/N: Here's a quickie. I originally planned to be in Pheonix this weekend, but that got derailed. This chapter was just something to hold you guys over until the next update. Hopefully, the next one will be longer, but no gurantees. Let me just say, I _really_ loved your guy's reactions to last chapter. It was pretty priceless. Anyways, have a good day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	22. Broken

Nightwing arrived at the Cave soon after Conner called him. Since the clone didn't give him any details, the urgency was only escalated. As soon as he stepped out of the zeta tubes Superboy directed him towards the briefing room in the Cave. The first Robin wasn't surprised to see Batman typing furiously when he walked in.

"What's with the 9-1-1?" Nightwing asked.

"Avery's been kidnapped," Batman kept on typing.

"Do you know by whom?"

"Take a guess," Batman prompted.

Nightwing's eyes narrowed and he resisted the urge to grit his teeth, "Deathstroke."

"Correct; I'm trying to narrow down her location now."

"You put a tracker on her?" Nightwing asked, not so much in disbelief. Batman did it to all his protégés.

"On her backpack," The Dark Knight justified.

"I'm sure you would've put it under her skin if it would take," Nightwing resisted the urge to rub his hip, where his own tracker was.

Batman narrowed his eyes at the comment, but didn't reply. He continued typing as the location was getting more and more specific. "Got it," He announced as the screen pinged an address.

"Downtown Metropolis? How'd he get there so fast?" Nightwing was staring at the screen, trying to make sense of the location.

"He's had somewhere between twenty to thirty minutes since we figured out Avery was missing. Conner arrived fifteen minutes after school let out. Whoever's hired Deathstroke has made sure he's got the best at his disposal." Batman was already setting out towards the zeta tube to go to the Bat Cave. After all, the quickest way to travel without a speedster was flight.

_.:Back to Life:._

Avery groaned as teeth sprouted from the spots they had been knocked out off. All she wanted to do was stand up and shake out her limbs for at least a few seconds. Well that, and maybe take one of Deathstroke's limbs off. Fair game, considering how many injuries he'd dealt out in the short time.

Her thoughts were cut short as Deathstroke brandished his sword. He stuck it straight into Avery's thigh, going straight down to the bone.

"You can feel your leg healing, can't you? Must be excruciating, trying to piece yourself together like that." Deathstroke pressed down on his sword a little harder.

Avery tried to keep the wince from slipping out as she felt the bone start to crack under the pressure. "The femur is the hardest bone to break in the entire human body. You are going to have to do a _little_ better," She taunted.

"Watch me try," Deathstroke pressed down and his sword slid neatly in between the now fractured bone segments.

_.:Back to Life:._

Tim bounded down the stairs of the Bat Cave after his long day at school. He wanted to check to see if the city turned to chaos in the last seven hours. What he saw was Batman and Nightwing climbing into the Bat-Wing.

"What are you guys doing?" He questioned as he jogged up to the vehicle.

Batman sent a glare towards his older son when he opened his mouth. "We'll tell you when we get back." The Dark Knight promptly settled into his seat and turning the flyer on.

Tim tried to hide his surprise at not being told. It wasn't like he was that little kid trying to convince Batman to take on another Robin anymore. He could be trusted; he'd proved that many a time. "Bye, I guess," Tim muttered as he watched the Bat-Wing leave.

Nightwing gave a small wave back to his little brother through the window. The vigilante then turned to his mentor and said, "Why didn't you just tell him?"

Batman tried to keep the growl out of his voice, "Slade's already taken an interest in one protégé, and I'm not letting him go for two."

"Then we'd better hurry up instead of worrying about leaving Timmy behind," Nightwing started flicking the appropriate switches to go faster.

_.:Back to Life:._

"You could at least let me put up a fight," Avery muttered as she reeled from the latest blow, her thigh still bleeding.

It peaked the interest of her tormentor to say the least. He turned away from his table of dangerous goodies and looked the teen straight in the eye. "You want to fight me?" He enunciated each syllable carefully, even though he thought the idea to be hilarious.

"Well I do not have a chance with being chained to a chair. I thought you liked fighting on a more even plane." Avery blew a stray piece of hair out of her face, trying to be nonchalant.

"Even plane if I can win," Deathstroke justified. He was curious after all. The girl had been off his monitors for about a week, a lot of that could've been spent training. "I'll still win in this case no matter what, though."

"Let us see you try," Avery smirked as she saw the mercenary come forward, a shiny piece of silver in his hand.

Deathstroke undid several locks kept at various places on the chains. "Remember, you brought this on yourself," he said as the last chain fell.

"So did you," Avery growled. She promptly tightened her grip on the seat of the chair and stiffened her legs. With a fast swing of her arms she brought it out from under her and over her head.

Straight onto Deathstroke's.

The mercenary stumbled from the hit, not unconscious, just fazed. Avery took no hesitation and lunged for the nearby table she knew the torture tools were being kept on. Deathstroke was going to pay.

_.:Back to Life:._

Batman landed the Bat-Wing on the roof of the warehouse Avery was supposed to be in. If the coordinates were right then the teen should be right under his feet. The seasoned hero couldn't hear anything from inside, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign.

Nightwing took the initiative and crept onto a fire escape on the side of the building. From there he opened the door to a catwalk along the upper area of the warehouse. Batman soon followed behind.

They exchanged glances rather than words as signals. Batman went to the left and Nightwing went to the right. It was a big warehouse to search; they were going from top to bottom as quickly and quietly as possible.

Batman signaled for Nightwing to continue searching the rest of the west end of the catwalk and began descending a nearby staircase. The steps threatened to creak under his feet. The hero moved slower to compensate and started searching. Most of the house floor was empty with a few crates left in assortments along the ground. Each one was avoided expertly, even with the dim light filtering in through the dirty windows stretching along the catwalk.

There were only a few more places to search, so Batman made for the back offices. Small noises of scuffles were becoming more audible as the Bat closed in. A sound of wood breaking was thrown to his ears.

Batman rushed to the door he heard the noises coming from, what was once a faculty lounge for workers in the building. He was surprised at the sight that awaited him.

Avery was there, bloodied and showing signs of fatigue. But what was the real kicker was that she was holding a rather large knife and approaching a dazed Deathstroke with commendable speed.

"Avery! Stop!" Batman called out.

Avery's head snapped up just a little too late as the blade slid in between plates of Deathstroke's armor.

**A/N: Cliffhangers for everyone! This should've been posted yesterday morning, sorry, but I was at a convention the whole weekend. Lots of fun. Took lots of pictures. Even started a YouTube channel recently, it's fun so far. Another thing to push all fanfiction writing back though. Oh well, just can't wait for summer. So much more free time. Anyways, have a nice day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	23. Paralysis

Avery released her grip on the knife and stepped back. She looked at the blood leaking out of Deathstroke's armor and the full realization of her actions hit her. She stumbled as the adrenaline drained out of her system and it became harder to walk on her left leg.

Batman took a hesitant step towards Deathstroke, more concerned with the condition of the guy who had a knife sticking out of his shoulder rather than Avery.

Before he could get close enough Deathstroke stood up, one hand on a gun holster and glared at Avery, "That was a nice try, girl."

Avery stayed silent and returned the glare, slowly shifting towards the exit.

Deathstroke pulled out the knife and threw it to the ground, "I have to admire your ruthlessness." The mercenary finally addressed Batman, "Now, I suppose you're her mentor in this situation, considering you came for her. It'll make this next part so much more satisfying."

Before anyone could blink Deathstroke pulled his gun out of the holster and pressed his finger down on the trigger on his gun. Batman turned after hearing the hard sound of a human body hitting hard concrete. Avery was face up on the floor; blood was slowly leeching out from her lower back. Once Batman turned back he found Deathstroke's gun pointed right at his head.

"Just a note Batman, her healing has slowed down almost to the point of an average human's. So, you can go after me while I escape, or you can save her from bleeding out and giving a splash of color to this dreary, grey concrete. Choose now," Deathstroke lowered the gun and started running in the other direction.

Nightwing ran into the room as Deathstroke's white ponytail whipped out of sight, trying to take in the situation quickly. He blinked a few times then said, "Go after him, I'll take Avery back to Agent A."

With a swift nod Batman was running after Deathstroke and into the darkness.

The first Robin dropped on his knees next to Avery, "Alright, I'm gonna have to pick you up now. So, uh, no hard feelings if this hurts, right?"

Avery groaned. "Just do it already."

Nightwing nodded and picked Avery up with one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. Avery complied and put an arm around his neck for support as she mumbled something under her breath, barely audible. The vigilante rushed across the floor of the warehouse, up the metal stairs to the catwalk, and to the window he left open to leave from. He stopped there as he realized the problem; the window was at the height of his waist. Getting through with a bleeding girl would be a challenge.

"This might hurt a bit more than that run," he noted.

Avery mumbling grew a little louder.

"What was that?" Nightwing asked when he was halfway through the window.

"I cannot-," Avery spoke a little louder, "I cannot feel below where your hand is on my back."

Nightwing added in his thoughts on the subject, "Heavy on the _dis_ right now. We better hurry up."

The vigilante hurried up the fire escape and into the Bat-Wing, carefully placing Avery in the passenger seat. He silently hoped Batman wouldn't be too pissed about the blood on his seat. He flicked switches as fast as he could and lifted the flyer off the building's roof. As soon as it was in the air and headed straight to Gotham he switched on the communication link to the Bat Cave.

"Robin, you still in the Cave? Over." Nightwing asked urgently.

A few seconds later a response filtered through the speaker, "Yeah, what's the situation Nightwing? Over."

"Get Agent A and tell him to prep for surgery. Over."

"Batman's hurt?" Robin asked with a sense of urgency, forgetting to add "over".

"No, or not yet at least. The surgery's for Avery. I'll explain everything later; just make sure he's ready. Over and out." Nightwing clicked off the radio and concentrated strictly on flying.

A silence took over the cockpit. Nightwing looked over to Avery. Her chest was heaving, trying to take in breath. Her lips were moving in the same pattern, as if she was repeating the same phase over and over, but she wasn't making a sound.

More uncomfortable minutes passed until Nightwing skillfully landed the Bat-Wing on its designated landing pad. He opened the glass windshield to the cockpit and carefully lifted Avery up before hopping onto the ground. The vigilante hurried to where he knew Alfred would be waiting to work his medical magic. Upon Alfred's instructions, Nightwing placed Avery down on the medical bed on her stomach. By more instructions, he left the room.

Tim, still in his Gotham Academy uniform, was waiting for him.

"You should change," Nightwing noted.

"You haven't looked at yourself, have you?" Tim asked.

Nightwing looked down and noticed the blood staining the front of his uniform from when he was carrying Avery. There was a lot of it, not just from her back injury considering how she was already covered in blood before he even touched her.

"I guess we both should," Nightwing pulled off his gloves and started walking up the stairs to the manor. He always kept a change of clothes in his old room.

Tim followed behind, asking, "So care to explain why you told me to tell Alfred to prep a super-healer for surgery?"

"Her healing was slowed thanks to Deathstroke. Not to mention paralyzed." Nightwing saw Tim cringe slightly out of the corner of his eye. "She'll be okay. She's come back from death."

"That was at full strength," Tim pointed out pessimistically.

"She'll be okay, nobody else in this family is going to die," Nightwing said with a final note as he stepped into the manor's study.

"Where's Bruce then?" Tim questioned.

"He went after Deathstroke. I haven't heard from him since then," Nightwing sighed and ripped off his mask. The glue holding it in place peeled off with that same annoying noise, like ripping apart your fingers after you put superglue on them, just less pain involved.

Tim nodded as they went up the stairs to the second floor and made their way towards the bedrooms. They parted and changed, meeting back up after a few minutes. Sunglasses adorned their eyes since they were going back down to the Cave.

They sat silently, Dick in the computer chair, and Tim on the floor. They knew the procedure, sit in silence and wait for Alfred's word.

Eventually it came. Alfred stepped out of the room, "Master Nightwing, I'll be needing your assistance."

Tim shot both males curious glances, but didn't question it. Dick got up and followed Alfred into the medical room. He was immediately handed a sterile medical apron and gloves.

"What do you need me to do?" Dick asked, perfectly aware that Alfred knew the young adult knew nothing of the medical profession besides how to apply a Band-Aid. Let alone deal with all that encompassed bullet wounds and broken bones. All he knows is through observation.

"Well, her femur has already begun trying to heal itself. But something offset it in the process, now it is healing wrong. We must stop it now, reset it, and hold it to make sure it heals well, sir."

"You're asking me to re-brake her femur?" He asked slightly confused.

"I would, but I do not possess the strength, sir."

"I-fine, I'll do it." Dick set himself up at Avery's leg. The stab wound was still open and you could see just by the disposition of her outer skin that the bone wasn't straight. Everything personal of Avery's was kept out of sight by a red and white sheet.

"A clean break, sir. And please hurry; the young madam's worn through three doses of sedatives so far, sir."

Dick shook his head once, murmuring, "This is always so much easier to do to criminals." With one swift movement you could hear the bone fracture. "That's all you need me for, right?"

"Yes, please discard your scrubs and gloves at the door, sir," Alfred immediately jumped back to work, setting the bone and using pins and gauze to keep everything in place.

Tim was still waiting in the same place. He looked up and asked, "What did he need you to do?"

"I had to re-brake her femur." Dick slumped into the computer chair and rested his head against the padded back.

"Did she look like she was doing alright?"

"I don't know. There was a lot of blood. Alfie said she's woken up three times."

The zeta beam in the Cave powered up nearby and announced the Dark Knight's presence after a few more silent moments.

"More good news, I hope," Tim remarked as he went to meet his mentor.

The first thing visible was a deep set scowl, even more than normal. He didn't have to be asked what happened, "Nothing. He was gone. No blood trail, nothing. It's not possible!"

"You said it yourself, Bats. Someone wants him to succeed at this mission." Dick sat up in the chair.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to let him," Batman clenched his fists. He slowly unclenched them and asked, "How's Avery?"

Alfred walked up, seemingly out of nowhere. "Ask her for yourself. She's awake and wishes to speak to you, sir."

**A/N: Sorry it's late. I was really sick last weekend and didn't feel like doing anything, much less writing. Things will be moving a lot quicker from here if I do this right. By the way, 200th reader gets a prize. Only thirteen reviews away from that. I forgot to put the announcement of that last chapter. Forgive me. Well, have a nice day. **

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	24. Identity

After receiving the basic report of Avery's injuries, Batman walked into the familiar room where Alfred consistently patched up the Dynamic Duo. Avery was lying on her back on the padded "bed" in a paper hospital dress. There was a blanket covering her legs, two pillows propping up her head, and an IV in her hand. She was conscious, but her skin was pale from blood loss.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Batman closed the door behind him.

"Yes. Before you berate me for getting kidnapped and stabbing Deathstroke, there is something I would like to say," Avery took a deep breath. "Thank you."

The Dark Knight stood at Avery's bedside, "For what?"

"For coming after me. I will be thanking Nightwing for that in due time. Then thanking your mysterious doctor for saving my life."

"You can call him Agent A," Batman clarified.

"Alright," Avery murmured. Her unfocused eyes wandered around the room, not meeting Batman's covered ones once.

"I found these when I was looking for evidence," Batman held up Avery's glasses.

"Thank you," She put them over her eyes with shaking hands. "I was not going to kill him, by the way," she said after a few minutes in silence.

"Deathstroke you mean?" Batman crossed his arms.

"Yes, the injury would not have killed him. I only meant to faze him." Avery's eyes stayed locked on the nearby heartbeat monitor that kept a constant check on her condition.

"So you faze him. What next? Hobble out of the warehouse with a broken femur?" Batman questioned and gestured to the extra padding Avery had around her thigh under the blanket.

Avery gave a half-hearted shrug and sat up. "Looks like it did not matter. You showed up."

"But what if I hadn't?" Batman challenged. "You're here to learn about protecting yourself, not relying on my help. Protecting yourself means you find your own way out. You've shown a lot of progress considering where you were when you first started training. But applying those skills in the real world is something I can't teach you."

"I realize that," She snapped harshly. Avery met Batman's eyes once again. She sighed heavily, "I am sorry. It has just been a long day."

"That's one way to describe it," Batman wrung his hands. "How are you feeling?"

"Beaten up," Avery said without hesitation. She amended her statement after a very brief look of concern flashed over her mentor's face, "But healing quickly."

Batman nodded, "Good, we'll start your training again once you've healed."

"I can agree to that," Avery laid her head back against the pillows. "Can I please rest now?"

"Sure, I'll bring you some food when you wake up," Batman started towards the door. He took a last glance at his newest protégé. The back of her paper gown was slightly open, revealing thick scars crisscrossing up and down her back. In his slight shock he barely registered her next words.

"One last thing actually," Avery spoke up.

"Yeah?" Batman had his hand on the handle of the door.

"I figured something out not too long ago." Avery turned her head to meet his covered eyes. "We will not be needing the masks anymore, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce almost smiled; he just pulled down his cowl instead, "Now you're acting like a protégé of the Batman."

Avery smiled, took off her glasses, and turned back to rest the side of her face into the pillow. "You are saying it like I was not already."

_.:Back to Life:._

Tim sat on the roof of the manor. His legs were curled close to his body, his arms resting on his knees and his chin resting in the warmth of his interlocked arms. He went there to think occasionally. It's not like it was hard to get there from his bedroom window. Alfred almost had a heart attack the first time he found Tim up there. Although after having seen Dick hanging from the manor's many chandeliers as an eight year old, the surprise wasn't enough to cause a full cardiac infarction.

Dick soon found his way up to the roof, "What're you doing up here?"

"Sitting."

"You're going to catch a cold, or worse." Dick looked up at the ever present storm clouds surrounding Gotham. "Bruce says there's a blizzard heading our way. Probably gonna hit most of the northeast."

"That's a big storm," Tim noted.

"Perfect for snowball fights though," Dick always tried to look on the good side.

"Think they'll cancel school?"

"Don't get your hopes up," Dick ruffled Tim's hair and stood up. "C'mon, Alfred has dinner ready."

Tim took one last look at the storm clouds hanging overhead. "I'll be down in a minute," He promised.

Dick trusted his brother, so he let him stay there for a little bit of extra time. He left with the remark that all food is getting eaten before it gets cold, whether Tim gets his portion first or not.

The current Robin sighed into his arms, letting the hot breath warm his arms through his coat. He tried to collect his thoughts. Bruce told him that Avery figured out their identities. It was only a matter of time, really. But still, it had taken him months to figure it out. Even more time to convince Batman he needed to take on another Robin after Jason died. Avery figured it out in roughly five and a half months. Tim took about seven months.

"Maybe I am a bit jealous of her," Tim mumbled, letting his sleeves cushion the sound.

He considered more variables. Tim was only about thirteen when he figured it out two years ago. Avery's had almost ninety years to build up any quotient of measurable intelligence. Sure, most of the time she holds to basic common sense, but she's obviously capable of more critical thinking. Avery showing up has brought one of Tim's fears to the forefront of his mind, being replaced. Dick gave up the title of Robin. Jason lost it with his life. But being forcibly replaced by someone better would just plain suck. The girl has a lot of potential, Tim's seen it, Dick's seen it, Bruce has seen it; it was only a matter of time before she becomes a hero in her own right. The question is what name she'll take on, what costume she'll wear, and the insignia she'll bear.

**A/N: First things first, the guest Mer got the two hundreth review. Whoever you are, you have two weeks to contact me via this site or the prize is void. Second, I'm kinda sorry for not posting for almost two weeks in a row. Most stressful weeks of my life (moving, projects, essays, had to put on a play), so that's why I'm only kinda sorry. I was too busy focusing on all that to write. Just wait for summer vacation to come, I know I am, updates should come more quickly. Third, thank you to all of you for following this story so long. Even if you are just a passeby and reading this story to waste a little time, or if you're a true blue fan. Fourth, one of my friends asked me how I would react to fanart of this story. I say, by all means, DO IT. If you want to. I know I catch myself doodling scenes out on scrap paper. Anyways, have a nice day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	25. Heft

Tim volunteered to take Avery's breakfast, seeing as she slept through dinner, down to her, no mask necessary this time. She should be up by now anyways. The teen shifted the tray he was carrying to open the door. Avery was still sleeping when he walked in, tossing and turning with a nightmare. His eyes widened as he noticed the spot of red around Avery's thigh. She was opening up her wounds with all the movement.

Moving into action, Tim went to wake Avery up. He tried shaking her shoulders, didn't work. He tried talking to her, didn't work.

"Calm down!" Tim shouted as he restrained Avery's left leg, one hand on her knee and the other at her hip. Whether it was a conscious move or not, Tim had to respect the heft of the punch that Avery sent at his cheek, knocking him to the floor.

Avery sat up as Tim stood. She was blinking rapidly as she took in her surroundings. Her hands fumbled for her glasses as she sucked in heavy breaths. Tim saw them first and handed them to her.

"Thank you," Avery muttered. As she put them on she noticed the fresh red mark on Tim's cheek. "How did you get that?"

"You," Tim glared.

The girl gaped for a second, wringing her hands before saying, "Oh, I am sorry."

"Well at least I know it's only the sleeping-you that's ever going to land a hit on me."

Any remorse went down the drain right there. "Keep saying that, Birdy."

"I will; it's the truth."

"Have fun stoking your ego. Now, why are you even here?"

"Besides keeping you from splitting all your injuries open?" Tim crossed his arms and grabbed the tray he set on the floor earlier. "I brought you breakfast."

Avery stared at the tray of food, saliva collecting in her mouth at the veritable mountain of it. She collected herself in a few seconds. "Thank you."

Tim unfolded the legs of the tray and placed it over Avery's thighs. "I'll leave you to it. Bruce should be down soon enough. There's no school today either."

With a nod on Avery's part, Tim left the room.

_.:Back to Life:._

By the time Bruce came down to visit Avery again, she was up and walking around the room. There was a small limp in her step, but it was disappearing a little more every second. Upon a second glance, Avery had removed almost all of her bandages herself, along with the stitches that had been placed in her thigh. Her hair also grew exponentially, almost meeting the middle of her back.

"Feeling better?" Bruce asked from the doorway.

"Much," Avery replied absentmindedly. "Walking feels like a relief now," she added the thought in.

"Well now that you can walk, we'll be leaving for the Cave soon." He raised the small bundle in his hands, "You can change into these."

"You got my clothes from the Cave?" Avery said upon closer examination of the articles.

"Nightwing, Dick, did," Bruce adjusted himself from using codenames.

"I will have to thank him."

"Later, there's someone waiting for you at the Cave already."

"Who?" Avery looked Bruce directly in the eye.

"Black Canary, she wants to talk to you."

"What you mean is that she wants to have another therapy session."

"Yes," Bruce dismissed and walked out of the room to go set up the zeta tubes and get into his own costume.

Avery walked out quickly after; changed into the loose clothing supplied. "Let us get this over with," Avery muttered in distaste to the zeta tubes.

Batman smirked at his protégé's attitude towards the traveling device. "Hold your breath, it helps."

**Recognized: Batman 02, Avery Brave B27**

"Not by much," Avery huffed out as she regained her balance. "So I have my own designation now?"

"You were going to need one eventually," Batman justified. "You know where to meet Black Canary. Meet me in the gym once you're done. We have more training to do."

"Wonderful," Avery departed with a half-hearted salute. She then wandered around the familiar hallways. Her feet led her to the therapy room Canary had used before. A quick knock and a permission to enter later, Avery was sitting in the plush green seat across from Canary's.

"Hello again," Canary greeted as she crossed her legs in an attempt to look relaxed.

"Hello," Avery completed the basic pleasantry.

"Do you want to talk about what happened yesterday afternoon, or would you like to continue where we left off last time?"

"I am going to have to end up talking about both topics anyways. Yesterday afternoon to start would be easier to address at this given time."

Canary nodded for Avery to continue.

Avery adjusted herself in her chair to be sitting cross-legged on the seat. "First off, school was wonderful. The people there, for the most part, were very kind."

"For the most part?"

"There was one girl; she believed I was interested in her ex-boyfriend. Normal teenager stuff."

Canary nodded once again.

"I made friends too," Avery continued. "The classes are easy so far, but saying that so early into the start would be jinxing it. I will not know if the classes are going to get any harder until this storm blows over. But, continuing, the day went nicely until Deathstroke showed up. I was talking with one of the friends I had made when I saw him, just a glance, but I knew it was him. I told my friend to go; he is totally unaware of any of this as far as I know.

"Deathstroke then appeared right in front of me. I was not even near his level. I threw one unsuccessful punch. He successfully broke my neck. The next thing I know, I am waking up in a dark place, chained to a chair, and being tortured. It hurt, a lot, I will admit that. Eventually I took so many blows without taking in any nutrient compensation that my healing started slowing. Deathstroke pointed it out. I was a bit too busy trying to think of a way out to notice."

Avery half-laughed as she remembered the next part, "I told him to let me put up a fight. Great plan _that_ turned out to be. He unchained me. I broke a chair over his head, and then I stabbed him. Right here," Avery tapped the place near her shoulder where she slid the knife in.

"Do you have any remorse over stabbing him?" Canary asked.

"Not much, I knew it was not going to kill him. If anything, it just made him angrier. Which might explain why he shot me in the back a few minutes later. But, before he shot, he said he admired my ruthlessness. That is what is unnerving me the most. No one ever wants to be complimented by a killer."

"Why do you think that's messing with you?"

"Besides the part that he is a killer? Well, he had this look in his eye when he said it, as if he saw me being a killer in my own right. That is something I never want to be. I have seen enough horrible people on this planet to know I do not want to be like them."

"Understandable," Canary agreed.

"Then I was taken back to Batman's lair, cave, whatever, for medical treatment. And that just about brings us full circle." Avery twiddled her thumbs in her lap.

"Is that all you want to say on the subject?"

"No, there is one more thing actually. There is one thing that Deathstroke does not know he did due to these events."

"Which is?" Canary sat forward slightly.

Avery smiled, "He has only made me stronger, sped up my healing and strengthened my resolve."

**A/N: Pretty sure this classifies as a filler. Oh well, so much for story progression. I'm setting up for actually moving along with the plot though, I swear. I like writing these weird little therapy sessions though. Don't know exactly why, just do. Okay, one more thing, this story has gotten its hundreth follower, and over a total of _fifteen_ _thousand_ views. THANK YOU! I think that's about all that I have to say for now. Have a nice day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	26. Guilt

Canary smiled at Avery's declaration. "It's good to know you're dedicated. Now, let's continue from last week."

Avery's smile dropped. "Yes, I had just finished talking about my sister's death. Well, I guess it is murder actually. Alright then, continuing from there. It took a while for my father to get over her death. When my mother died, he considered it his fault. When my sister died, he felt the same way. I did too, but to a lesser extent. I actually feel guilty for not feeling, well, as guilty as him. It was as much of my fault as it was his. If I had just shut my big mouth…" Avery trailed off, looking away from Canary's gaze.

"Avery, it's no one's fault but the one who pulled the trigger. You didn't know that your sister was going to die because of your words," Canary tried to comfort.

"I should have though. The guards were getting fed up with us as is. They realized how I was recovering from injuries faster than usual, even if they did not know why. Eventually, they stopped coming after me when my father spoke up. It was only a matter of time before they went after her." Avery picked her eyes back up and looked Canary in the eyes. "I guess continuing would help more than staying on this for the rest of the time."

"Your choice."

"Continuing then. It was only me and my father after that. We looked out for each other and did not care what the guards did to us. The guards themselves were angered by that. With one medical assistant gone, they could not afford to kill another. They could not kill me anyway; it took a little while to realize that, though. They figured it out one night when a punishment went too far. I was shot, right in the heart. It should be impossible to come back from that. But right as they were about to put my body through the cremator, _bam_, there is a supposedly dead girl running around. That was the first time I came back from death. Mengele, the man who unwittingly gave me such power, took interest in me again.

"Mengele wanted to take me out of the camp, study me on his own terms. My father refused. He locked me in one of the spare closets in the medical building as guards came to get me for Mengele. I did not know what was going on exactly, but I could hear it. The slam of knuckles hitting flesh, I recognized that. Then the door opened. It surprised me to say the least that I saw my father to be the one still standing. For a moment I thought of him different. I had never seen or heard of my father hurting another being; I had only ever known him to heal. That second that I took for my surprise to wear off, it cost us."

Avery took particular interest in her hands resting in her lap at that moment. "He was taken for his final punishment while I was forced to watch. Mengele said that if my father was so keen on keeping me from being studied, then that must mean he was volunteering in my place. I was strapped to a nearby chair while my father was strapped to an operating table. Mengele made sure my chair was angled perfectly to see every cut he made on my father's chest. I tried to look away but a guard held my head in place. I tried to close my eyes but another guard held them open.

"Mengele made cuts much like a mortician would to open a corpse's chest. I sat in absolute horror and disbelief at what was happening. Mengele dissected my father like he was a dead frog, and with the same level of respect, which was none." Avery took a moment and sucked in a heavy breath as images flew through her mind. Her hands shook in her lap.

Canary reached over and put a steadying hand on Avery's. "You don't have to go on if you don't want to."

"No, I have to do this. If I cannot talk about it here then I will not be able to talk about much else." Avery forced her hands to remain still as Canary removed her own. "I watched as Mengele made precision cuts, taking out less important organs as he went. My father never screamed once. He looked like he wanted to severely, but he did not. Mengele kept the bleeding contained to make the dissection last longer. Eventually, Mengele proclaimed he was bored and took away all of the means that kept my father from bleeding even more. Mengele knew there was nothing I could do to save my father at that point, I knew it too. He ordered the guards to untie me then left the room with them.

"I sat with my father, held his hand, as he spent his last few moments bleeding out. He murmured a prayer for me with his last breath. _For me_. I did not know what to do but wish that my religion had a hell so that Mengele could spend all of eternity there. That was also the moment I stopped believing in God. I guess it was only a matter of time. After the pent up years of seeing all the horrible things happening I was believing less and praying more, hoping for some sort of sign that everything would be alright. No true God would let such horrifying things happen to his own creations."

"Do you ever regret that?"

"Not once. God has never shown a sign that he was helping me. He would let me die if he wanted to help me."

Canary's eyes went wide, but she didn't speak.

"Mengele saw how broken I was after that. He gave up on me. I do not know why. My ability was still in place. Maybe it was my resistance that made me so interesting. Either way he left the camp. A little while later the camp started to evacuate. All those unable to walk themselves were left behind. I feigned being sick, it was not hard. The guards did not care when they saw me among those staying behind. After a time, the 322nd Rifle Division of the Red Army came with medical supplies and food. I started piecing myself together as I helped others with my medical knowledge. It felt like I was honoring my father by using the things he taught me."

Canary spoke as Avery took a pause. "I think we can be done for today. You have training to do. We'll pick up next week."

"Sure," Avery kept her head ducked as she tried to fight tears that had been threatening to fall the entire session. With a meager goodbye, Avery left the room with her head still ducked. Her longer hair helped cover her face as she finally let the tears fall free. She took a pause while walking to the gym and leaned against the wall. Footsteps coming down the hall registered in her hearing and made her stop and wipe her tears.

"Avery?" A voice called from down the hallway.

As the body came into view Avery wiped away the final bit of moisture, "Hi Conner."

Conner noticed how watery Avery's eyes were, but didn't mention how he heard her crying. "You can talk to me if you ever need to. Technically we're cousins."

Avery let out an airy chuckle, the only real sign that she appreciated the joke. "The beauty of forged paperwork."

A small smile appeared on the clone's face. They stood in silence for a minute, neither knowing what to say. Finally, Conner made the first move. "I'm sorry about being late yesterday. If I wasn't then Deathstroke wouldn't have-"

Avery cut him off, "Do not worry about it. I am still alive; you can apologize when I am worm food. Actually, not even then." The corners of Avery's mouth barely tilted up, "Got it, cousin?"

"Yeah, and the offer to talk still stands."

"Maybe later; I have an appointment with some punching bags that need to be physically abused right about now." Avery patted Conner's arm as she passed him to go to the gym.

Conner looked as she walked away, guessing at how much she had to take to get her hair to grow from her shoulders to the middle of her back. He gave up on the train of thought per Avery's previous words and made a path to the living room to find Wolf and feed him.

**A/N: More therapy! Okay, I'm posting this early so you guys can't get all pissy over the weekend, 'cause I don't know if I'll be able to post. I'm going to be cramming as much as I can. So that either means no chapters or more because I'm trying to put off studying. Don't hope for the latter. I don't want to fail. Alright, well, hope you have a good day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	27. Simulation

Avery strolled to the gym slowly. She muttered a hello to Garfield as he passed, saying she would be happy to play some video games with him after training. With the storm going around Mt. Justice, anyone who wasn't a permanent resident was staying away from the zeta tubes if they could help it. With the zeta tubes transporting heroes in from all over the country, it'd be a bit difficult to get back home in the current conditions. So Garfield was a bit lonely, sure he could talk to Conner and M'gann all he wanted, but M'gann said she was busy and Conner had broken three controllers already. Actually, video games were a bit out of both of their reaches either way. So he decided to ask Avery to play, hoping she'd be semi-decent. With her promise in mind, Gar went off to do his own training with his animal encyclopedia.

Batman was ready and waiting in the gym. M'gann, curiously, was at his side. Avery walked in during the middle of their conversation. From what the Martian's last words were, Avery wasn't sure if she wanted to still be in the room.

"What do you mean 'delve into my mind'?" Avery questioned as she cautiously advanced on the duo.

"Today's training," Batman gruffly answered.

"Yeah, that helps a bunch," Avery quipped back.

M'gann interrupted the small stare down going on between the two, "What Batman means is, we're going to be setting up training simulations to help you in real world situations."

Avery sent a quick glare over to Batman, "Really now? And how might that not work?"

"We're going to set up situations given by Batman. You have to figure your way out."

"This will all be happening in my head?" Avery crossed her arms and quirked an eyebrow at the idea.

"Exactly, and the quicker we get started the quicker you get a lunch break," Batman indignantly pointed out as Avery was about to protest.

Avery pursed her lips and gave a stiff nod.

M'gann quickly ushered Avery over to a stack of mats set up off to the side of the room. "You're still going to feel the pain of a hit, but no real harm will be coming to you out here in the real world."

"Like that would be a real problem anyway," Avery smiled at the thought. She lay down as instructed none the less.

"Just relax; it'll be easier for both of us." M'gann put her hands on Avery's temples as the girl closed her bright eyes.

The last thing Avery heard was a faint murmur from Batman and feeling like she suddenly took a sleeping pill. Then she woke up in a dark alley.

There was barely any light and it looked surprisingly like Gotham. At the edge of the alley enough light was leaking in to see that she wasn't alone. Among the garbage and rats there was a small huddle of guys dressed in warm clothing, the only connecter to all of them was the same colored bandanas all of them were wearing in one place or another. Knowing perfectly well that the men were supposed to be a gang and most likely meant danger, Avery made for the exit.

But, of course, there had to be something. Just as she was about to make her way fully out a can crunched under her foot. One of the men, clearly the leader, turned around. He was easily a foot taller than Avery, measuring in around six feet and change. His light skin was marred by a scar under his right eye, both of his eyes looked like frozen chocolate.

His voice reminded Avery of a pack-a-day smoker. "Lookie over here fellas. This girlie came out to play with us."

Avery knew there was no point in screaming; it was Gotham, after all. A little voice in the back of her head, clearly not her conscience, was telling her that she'd be fine. Well, as long as she used her training.

"I did not mean to break up your party," Avery took another step back.

"Nah, you din't do none o' that. We always like ourselves anotha guest to our parties," another guy said as he approached. The gleam of his smile set Avery on edge.

"S'pecially such a nice lil' one like yous," yet another man said. A rat scrammed between his legs, to no one's notice but Avery's.

"This is going to have to go the 'hard way', huh?" Avery thought aloud. "Alright then," she then assured herself.

"Who's you talkin' to over there? Are ya wearin' a wire? You too young t' be a cop," The first man sneered out as his fingers twitched towards his jacket pocket.

The same voice from before called out in the back of Avery's mind, this time with more prominence, "Assess the situation. How many are there? Are they armed?"

Avery's eyes darted around and she spoke aloud, "Seven, no weapons as of yet."

"Seven's a lucky numba, but I don't know 'bout 'no weapons', girlie." The same guy as before stuck his twitching hand into his pocket and pulled out a closed knife. With a small flick of his wrist the three inch blade was out and shining in the dull light. Three of the men behind him took out similar looking knives. The remaining three pulled up their fists.

"Let's slice and dice, then go grab some grub. I'm starvin'," one of the last to pull out his knife called to the others. The look in his eyes made Avery think food wasn't the thing he was most hungry for at the moment.

"This is great, just positively great," Avery whispered to her raised fists as she readied herself for an oncoming attack. She backed out onto the street knowing full well that an enclosed space and sharp objects was a bad combination.

The men compensated for the new elbow room and spread out. One of the ones armed with only his fists lunged forward first. Avery grabbed his oncoming fist and twisted it back behind his back. She kicked the back of his knees and smiled as he went face down, perfectly satisfied with herself.

"Always the weaklings that go to prove themselves first. Next?" Avery questioned the other six.

The next guy to approach had a poorly trimmed beard slinking off his chin, knife in hand at the ready. Avery backed away as he took one swipe after another at her chest. He backed her up all the way to the other side of the road. Avery timed the next part around his swipes, she jumped and grabbed onto the ladder of the fire escape above her. Due to lack of maintenance, the ladder stayed sturdy and didn't slide down. Just as the last swipe passed her now higher legs, Avery kicked out and landed a heavy blow to the thug's chest. His knife skirted across the asphalt as his head hit the ground with a solid crack.

"Kitten's got claws," the leader whistled out in appreciation. He started turning around in a circle, looking Avery up and down.

"How about fists?" Avery lunged at him.

She had her arm at the ready to push the knife out of his hand. But she didn't count on the other hand going back into his jacket. At the last second she noticed the small bulge and thought every curse that could possibly come to mind. Too late into the movement, she fell right into the barrel of the gun he pulled out. While trying to move, the thug pulled the trigger. Avery felt the pain in full force and collapsed to the ground momentarily.

As she got back up to keep fighting the illusion around her shattered. Her eyes fluttered open to see a glaring Batman. The sting of a nonexistent bullet ate at her stomach.

Avery beat him to the punch, "I know, I should have noticed the gun."

Batman loosened his tense posture by a barely measurable amount. He turned to M'gann, still seated at Avery's head, and sent a stiff nod to her.

"Relax," M'gann muttered softly as she placed her hands back on Avery's temples.

Avery internally sighed as she slowly slipped into the mental oblivion again.

**A/N: Yeah, here's a chapter. Basically, I wanted to work on diction and fight scenes. Thus this was born. Yeah, basically another filler. But I'd rather do these than rush through storyline progression too early. Have a nice day. **

**Read. Enjoy. Review**.


	28. Controller

After roughly an hour and a half of simulation training, Batman declared a break. M'gann happily made lunch for everyone in the Cave at the time. Then it was back to training. This time it was without M'gann helping out with simulations.

Batman surprised Avery by sliding the cowl off his head when they re-entered the gym.

"Everyone in the Cave knows our identities," Bruce justified.

"Even Garfield?" Avery questioned with a smile.

"That one was an accident. A certain speedster from the future has a big mouth."

Avery snickered, knowing just who he was talking about. It's not like he was hiding whose fault it was.

"No more physical training for the day," Bruce declared.

Just as Avery was about to let out a sigh of relief, he continued, "Knowing is half the battle. We're going to be going over battle strategies." With that, they got started.

After an hour of going over plans from World War I to the Anglo-Spanish War, Avery just about lost it.

"These are plans for wars! Wars having hundreds if not thousands of soldiers involved! Why would a single person have to learn that?" She pushed up her glasses and ran her hands over her face.

"You're overthinking this. If a single person can figure out how to beat a thousand-soldier army, they can figure out how to beat a smaller group. This is necessary." Bruce crossed his arms adamantly.

After rubbing her eyes a few more times and exhaled heavily through her nose. "I guess I am just frustrated. Too much brain work for one day."

"Think back, how did you figure out who I was?" A crease formed between his eyebrows.

"What?" Avery finally took her hands away from her face in confusion.

"Just think. How did you figure it out?"

Still confused, Avery began thinking. "I have seen news articles about Batman for years, from when you first started out. Sure it peaked my interest at first, how no living soul knew who you were, or if you even existed. It was at the back of my mind, all the articles, until I had to escape Black Manta's sub. When I first started looking for you, the great, glorious Batman, I had no intention of figuring out your identity. It just fell in place. All the newspapers that had news on Batman had news on Bruce Wayne."

"You're rambling," Bruce interrupted.

"Yeah, I tend to do that, but you asked how I figured it out. Back on track, the first time I noticed was when Bruce Wayne suddenly had casts on, supposedly you had a 'skiing accident'. Give me a moment to reflect on how stupid that sounds knowing for sure who you are. At the time, I was staying with a person who liked scanning police radio frequencies from time to time. One of them said how you were shot, right where the other version of you conveniently had casts to cover.

"Then not to mention the Robins. How Batman's first Robin grew into Nightwing not too soon after he flew the proverbial coup of Wayne Manor. Then your second son," Avery looked at the steely look on Bruce's face and reconsidered her words, "Well, you know what happened. But the timing was too perfect. The only thing that threw me off there was that Tim Drake started being Robin before you adopted him, when his parents were still alive. But then you adopted him after that, and the puzzle piece fit back into place.

"Talking to you now, it is noticeable how you change your voice to fit whatever person you are at the time. And your jaw line is the same, Batman to Wayne I mean. Anybody who got too close and had a good enough memory could see that. You might want to fix that one day." Another hard look was sent Avery's direction, which she rolled her eyes at. "But the final thing was in some of my first days here. For the record, Nightwing dared me to do it, wanted to check how good my memory was supposedly. But I grabbed a map of Gotham and charted out our little joy ride from that first night. Doing the math for mph and distance was difficult given the speedometer on your Batmobile, but I did it. You actually stepped on the map when you came to wake me up for training."

Bruce clenched his jaw. "So Dick 'dared' you to do it?"

"Yeah. Do not blame him though; I probably would have done it myself given enough time," Avery said it blatantly, not caring if that would be breaking a rule or anything of the sort.

A quiet message came through the communicator in Bruce's cowl. He pulled the black covering back on to hear it better. From her spot on the floor and a few feet away, Avery couldn't make out anything specific, but she could tell the storm was messing with the clarity of the message.

"I've got to go. You get to handle your own training for a little while. How much you train is how dedicated you are, remember that." With that Batman started jogging to the zeta tubes.

Avery put two and two together, realizing how unprotected Gotham was with the storm. Looters went out in almost any weather if it meant they could turn a buck. Batman was needed. With the training thought in mind, she went to go find Gar. The plan was to play video games for a little while, and then go back to training, then bed.

It wasn't hard to find him. He was already practicing the game, sitting in front of the TV on the floor. M'gann was sitting on the couch, reading a cooking book. Her eyes shot up to her little brother, a small smidge of disapproval on her features.

Gar turned around and shot a look at his sister. "Will not." In turning around he noticed Avery and advocated her to his side, "Tell her I'm not going to ruin my eyes by sitting here."

"You will actually."

Avery laughed when Gar stuck his tongue out at both her and M'gann in retaliation. M'gann wasn't far behind in the laughter.

"Are we still gonna play?" Gar held up the controller in his hand for emphasis.

Avery was about to respond with a confirmation when the zeta tubes interrupted her. They spit out a certain speedster that knew a lot about everyone's future.

"Bart!" Garfield yelled to get the speedster's attention before he left.

The called teen appeared on cue, a textbook in his hand, "What's up?"

"Wanna play?"

"Nah, I've got homework to do. Totally moding. I'll play later though."

Gar turned back to Avery, "Take a seat. I'll grab an extra controller for you."

Bart eyed Avery, taking in all the things that changed with her: the longer hair, the short sleeved shirt that didn't cover her tattoo at all, and the small bit of bandaging she hadn't taken off yet at the base of her neck. "Uh, BB, can I just borrow her for a minute?"

Garfield was about to give his answer, but M'gann interrupted, "Go ahead, Bart."

Avery crinkled her nose, "I am right here you know."

"Not for long. C'mon." Bart started walking away at a human pace. It was painstaking for him.

Without any verbal protest, Avery followed. She caught a snippet of the siblings' conversation as she left.

"What was that for?" Gar asked.

"You'll figure it out when you're older," M'gann justified gently.

"I'm thirteen already!" Garfield protested; that was the last Avery heard.

_.:Back to Life:._

A few minutes later, Avery and Bart sat on one of the cliffs that Mt. Justice had to offer, legs hanging off the edge. Bart had left his textbook inside and Avery had a jacket on to combat the falling snow and plummeting temperature.

"So why did you pull me out here exactly?" Avery asked as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"Are you okay?" Bart's eyes had a seriousness Avery had yet to see.

"Just a little shaken up today, but I am fine," Avery defended.

"Are you sure?" Bart pushed, the same look in his usually bright eyes.

Avery lifted any eyebrow, "Why the third degree?"

"You just usually-" Bart was cut off.

"Usually what? Bart, we barely know each other. We literally only met last week." Avery's frustrations from the day were filtering out.

Bart lost the seriousness. "It's complicated."

"Well I have time for you to sort through all this. You talk like we have known each other for years. You knew the name I have not told anyone in over half a century. It would be really great if you could explain that." She pointed her eyes right at his, letting all the sharpness of her forming glare hit him.

The growing speedster ran a hand through his hair. He took a breath to stabilize himself and tried to speak, "In the future, I was a slave of the Reach. My bedtime stories were all about today's heroes, that's why I know so much about all of them. But you, I actually knew you. You weren't another story; you were there physically, trying to survive the same as me."

"The Reach, you mean the aliens that were chased off the planet last year?" Avery's glare softened as she tried to absorb all the information.

"And the ones that would've enslaved the entirety of the human race if I didn't have a time machine." Bart looked at his hands, almost expecting those dirty, old gloves to still be there. For the collar to pop up around his neck and enslave his speed as much as his will.

"I guess I should say thank you," Avery deadpanned. That future hadn't happened here; she didn't have a single clue what it would be like.

Bart let out a breath that briefly resembled a laugh, "Why? You're the one that helped build it."

"Me build a time machine? Did you hit your head recently?"

"I'm not kidding. You, Neutron, and another hero that shouldn't be named built that machine. Well, you guys did most of it, I helped here and there."

"Alright," Avery said skeptically, "I can acknowledge that all of this could have actually happened where you are from, but that future never happened. I am not the Avery or Cyla that you knew."

"Oh really?" Bart challenged with an easy smile. "You're still a smart mouth, you're still intelligent, and you still know your way around a med-kit. You're still the same person."

Avery put her head in her hands for a second, and then picked it back up. "Fine, so I am still the same person. But I want to know two things."

"Go ahead."

"First, why did you call me the White Eternal when we first met? Second, why do you look at me like I am going to break down any second?"

"You were the White Eternal in the resistance against the Reach. It was pretty crash. And let me do a little assessment here to answer your second question. Hair halfway down your back, there's gauze on your neck, and you have a little crease forming between your eyebrows simply because I dragged you out here. Anyone of us could see you're having a tough day. I'm just here to make sure you talk about it."

"Well, you are great at getting people to talk, not shutting up until they respond helps there." A smile drifted across Avery's face, the only sign she was joking.

Bart's face lit up at the smile, "Like you don't talk a lot too."

"Oh hush." Avery nudged Bart's arm with her own shoulder.

"Whatever you say." That same easy-going smile played across Bart's features.

Avery stood up, "Come on, it is absolutely freezing out here and you have homework to do."

With her back to him, Bart let the disappointed look slip onto his face from that last comment.

**A/N: I don't even care if you guys point out this is a filler, I like it. For all you EternalPulse shippers, have at it with this chapter. Also, my one year anniversary for this site is coming up, I want you guys to suggest something for me to do. Whether it be update all my stories at once, or whatever. It's your guys' choice, mostly 'cause I have no idea what to do.**

**One last thing, I'm still in school. I am taking summer school to get ahead in credits. I have to remind all of you that are basically demanding an update. This whole writing thing I do, _it's only a hobby_. That means I'm not going to be devoting all my summer time to it. So with that in mind, please, to those of you who know that this note is for you, take a breath and wait like everyone else. Thank you. Have a great day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	29. Plan

Snow kept barraging the east coast for days. According to whatever weather forecasts made it over radio broadcasts, it should be ending soon. Avery was glad; she wouldn't be spending the majorities of her days doing intense training work anymore. Although, she did have a suspicion that Batman was going to pull her out of school until Deathstroke got taken down. But she hadn't had an opportunity to ask as of yet if she was right.

The zeta tubes whirled to life, a good sign that the storm was lessening in its own right. The recognition code for Batman got spit out. Avery deemed it a good time to talk about what was going to happen when school resumed. Even if she didn't go back, any of the people she was seen talking to could be in danger, David especially seeing how there was no doubt Deathstroke saw him.

"How is Gotham?" Avery asked to start a conversation, deciding not to jump straight to the topic of school.

"How much did you train?" Batman countered right away, walking through the hallways of the Cave.

Avery took his question as a positive answer to her own. "Over half my day, every day. Combat, archery, gymnastics, and more simulations with M'gann. Satisfactory?"

"Not until I see what progress you've made."

"That can wait actually," Avery halted in her tracks, making Batman halt too. "I want to know what is going to happen when school starts back up."

"You're going back," Batman said after a few moments of contemplation. Avery was about to respond, but was cut off. "On a few conditions though. Some members of the Team are going to be monitoring the school."

"Costumed heroes monitoring a small high school? How long until someone catches on that something fishy is going on?" Avery leaned against the nearby wall.

"We won't have to wait long. Deathstroke wants that formula badly; he's going to make a play for it very soon." Batman started walking back down the hall, deeming the conversation over.

Avery looked down at the floor for a few seconds before shoving off the wall and yelling after him, "Wait, I am mercenary-bait!?"

_.:Back to Life:._

Just as planned, Avery went to school much as she did that first day. M'gann dropped her off, but this time she kept up a mental link as she departed. The heroes weren't to move in to the school unless Avery confirmed that Deathstroke got past their watchful eyes. She actually noted Mal buying a coffee in a nearby café. She also noticed the green bird stationed where a brick fell out of a store's wall across the street from the high school. Gar just wanted to get out of his own schooling. There was no doubt in mind that there were others where she couldn't see, but that was entirely the point.

Once Avery walked into the school her feet took her straight to the front office. David was there, helping out again. She knocked on the glass of the door and motioned for him to come into the hall.

David pushed out the doors to the office with his backpack on his shoulders. "Hey, how was your snow time?"

Avery knew an acceptable answer wasn't that she spent the entire time training for her inevitable run-in with a psycho out for her blood. She decided to go with, "Good, spent a lot of time inside though."

"Wish I woulda known. Me, Monroe, and Aly were sledding down the streets. We would've invited you," David frowned ever so slightly.

"That is alright, I was not alone or anything."

"Yeah, your cousin." David looked off absentmindedly, which made Avery briefly wonder if he was ADD, taking his previous behaviors into consideration. "Oh, I heard we were having a shelter-in-place drill today."

"A what?"

"Shelter-in-place, it's kinda like if a crazy person with a gun were to show up to our school. We're supposed to turn off the lights and hide under our desks. But we usually just put tape on the outsides of our doors to acknowledge that the drill is going on, then class just resumes like nothing happened. We don't get a lot of crazies around here."

Avery resisted commenting about how she just brought one to the town. "A drill right after a snow storm seems a little odd."

David shrugged. "I didn't see it on the computers before the break, but they're old, they malfunction about as much as Jordan's sanity level. Can't really blame anyone if it was scheduled ahead of time."

"True," Avery said aloud. She was mentally relaying the message through the link.

Mal answered back first, "_Not like those school computers were hard to hack before_."

"_The only question is if a student did it or not_," Avery thought as she nodded along to what David was saying, only half listening.

"_We'll see_," M'gann thought, a calming hint in her voice.

Avery's full attention was pulled back as someone hugged her from behind. She forced herself not to lash out in a way to inflict pain. Thankful that she didn't when she saw it was just Jordan.

David laughed, "Forgot to warn you, he's a hugger."

"I just care _so much_ about everyone," Jordon fake sobbed and wiped away a few fake tears after releasing Avery.

Not quite sure how to react, Avery just chuckled at the slight insanity of the people that took her into the folds of their social group. She didn't have to say much as the warning bell for the start of first period rang. Jordan said his good-byes and literally skipped down the hallway in the other direction, giving high-fives to people he passed.

"He's special," David justified.

"That is one way of saying that." Avery immediately knew the day was going to be a little weird, even if the school wasn't attacked.

First period was uneventful. Avery actually did have a copy of Great Expectations in her backpack; she found it in the Cave's library. The teacher didn't mind Avery keeping quiet in the back one bit.

Then second period came. She brought a change of clothes as asked, and wore a tank top to cover up the thick scars lashing across her back. One person asked about a large burn Avery had on the upper part of her right thigh, but was happy with the fake story Avery told about a kitchen accident. Nobody noticed her tattoo, as she put a long sleeve workout shirt on before anyone could. Avery dreaded the day that the weather started warming up and she'd have to wear short sleeves for gym.

That was when it happened. Gar called through the link, "_I see him!_"

**A/N: What? Storyline progression? Wow! Sorry for taking so long guys. I was in the hospital and working on other projects and stuff. I'm actually really excited for something me and my friends are doing now. We're making a zombie movie, and I'm the one writing the script and directing. I'll tell you guys when it's done so you can watch it if you want. **

**IMPORTANT: I'm doing a re-poll for who Avery ends up with. It seems that all the people jumping on board to the story lately are mostly shipping for one side. Which could easily tip the vote in the other favor. So, yeah, re-poll. Go vote on that. Have a nice day now.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


	30. Sneak

Avery quickly wiped the semi-panicked look off her face. She stayed quiet and listened to the messages going through the link. Beast Boy was down. Guardian went to help him from the relentless blows of Deathstroke and ended up taking a few himself.

The gym teacher whistled loudly, letting it reverberate through the locker room. "Alright ladies, there's a shelter-in-place going on now. You know not to leave the locker room. Feel free to talk, quietly."

Marilyn came over and sat next to Avery against the tiled wall. "So, I guess we're stuck here for a little while."

"Yeah," Avery muttered, half paying attention again. Her thoughts were racing. A drill where no one could leave the room they're in, where they can't notice if a deadly man is going through the halls, it was too perfect. Deathstroke did plan it, and he planned it well. Any student he wanted to use as a hostage and he'd know right where to find them.

"Are you okay?" Marilyn asked, brow furrowed. "You look like you're gonna be sick."

Avery faltered, "Fine." She glanced around and saw the doors to the bathroom. "I just have to use the bathroom real quick."

"Okay…" Marilyn stayed sitting on the ground with a confused look on her face.

Once in the bathroom, Avery leaned against the cold wall, trying to let the temperature relax her. The small light trickling in from a window high on the wall did little of anything but light up that one side of the room.

Over the link, Superboy called out, "_We've got incomings_."

Miss Martian answered back, "_Who_?"

"_Looks like…Shadows_," Superboy sounded confused, but no one questioned his judgment on who it was.

"_Where are they headed_?" Avery asked.

Knowing the layout of the high school, Superboy answered back the quickest, "_A few are staying back to stall us. The rest are going towards the math hallway and the gym_."

Avery froze up. David had math during second period and it was obvious enough who was in gym at that time. She had to compose herself once again when Marilyn walked into the bathroom.

"You've been in here a little while. Sure you're okay?"

"Not really. I need to get a little air," Avery's eyes flitted towards the window. It was high up, but she was confident she could fit through.

"Sneaking out, huh?" Marilyn smiled, perfectly accustomed to breaking the rules apparently. "I'll cover for you."

Avery smiled back, "Thank you, I will be back as soon as I can."

"Wait here for a second though." Marilyn left the bathroom, the door banging loudly behind her. Avery still did as she was told. In about a minute the red head arrived back, "Here, take these." In her hands were a container for contacts and a cheap white, full face mask that can be found in any party store. There was a messy streak of black paint going horizontally over the eyes. "I need the mask back for theatre next hour though."

"What is this for?" Avery took the two items. She recognized the contacts container as her own, "And how did you get my contacts. They were in my closed locker."

"Don't want you getting recognized by the staff, now do we? What fun would it be if you spent the rest of the day in the principal's office?" A smirk slid onto Marilyn's features at that point, "As for the whole locker conundrum… well, you're not the only one here from a big city."

"Thank you," Avery began putting in her contacts, and then slid the mask onto her face. She put her glasses into Marilyn's open hand and thanked her again.

Marilyn leaned against the wall, "If you need to blow off some steam the equipment locker is usually unlocked outside. Got a bunch of stuff in it like basketballs, lacrosse equipment, archery stuff."

Avery noted the presence of archery equipment. She may not be the best with a bow at that point, but she could still help. With a quick nod of recognition Avery jumped up on one of the sinks then used the momentum to reach the window. She pushed it open and slid though, landing on the ground below softly.

Originally, Avery wasn't supposed to leave the building. She was supposed to go through classes normally and wait for everyone else to fight the bad guys. But from what she's heard, this kind of stuff never actually goes to plan. "_Where are they now_?" Avery asked. She was currently on the south side of the gym, and didn't see a single person. Which was actually a good thing in the long run, considering the south side of the school was very visible to anyone walking by.

"_We've stopped the ones going to the gym and diverted them to the football field. Nightwing went to go take down the ones going to the math hallway_," Guardian answered back.

Math hallway it is, Avery decided to herself. She ran around the brick building she just jumped out of, rounding about towards the math hallway. A medium sized brick structure stood alone in her path. The white painted letters on the metal door clearly indicated it was the equipment locker. Hesitantly, as if hoping it would be unlocked like Marilyn said, Avery turned the handle. The satisfying click of the door opening sang to Avery's ears. Inside, there were bins and more bins of all types of equipment. Along the wall there were lacrosse sticks, and hallelujah, standard bows. Below the bows were small quivers, only holding a few arrows at a time. Upon further examination, the arrows just had rounded wooden tips. They wouldn't do much damage, but it was enough.

Without any more hesitation, Avery grabbed a bow and slung two quivers onto her back, loading as many arrows in as she could. As she was leaving she grabbed a tennis ball on instinct. It wouldn't hurt to have with her, and it didn't slow her down any.

After a half a minute of sprinting around the campus, Avery found herself at the gridlock. Nightwing was there fighting off a number of Shadows at once. He was protecting the one set of doors into the hallway from outside. Every time one made a move for the door, he'd stop them. Avery threw the tennis ball at the head of one of the Shadows at the back of the skirmish. He turned and charged Avery.

Avery had heard of how well trained the Shadows were. She dropped the bow and slid into a stance for the oncoming fight. The Shadow pulled out his nun chucks at the last second and attempted a hit at Avery's abdomen as he ran past. She quickly dodged and used the small moment he had his back to her to pick up her bow and get off a shot at the back of his legs, tripping him.

He recovered quickly, getting back up and pulling out small throwing knives. They were thrown in a way that Avery couldn't avoid all of them. One landed right in the crook of her left arm. The Shadow used the moment of surprise at getting hit to send a kick at Avery's abdomen. She was pushed back by the force of the kick, but remained on her feet. The Shadow wasted no time in attacking again. He sent a flurry of punches to various pressure points. Any hits that weren't blocked were recovered from quick enough due to Avery's healing.

One last punch was all the opening Avery needed. She grabbed the Shadow's arm and twisted, making him turn around. She used her foot to flick his discarded nun chucks up to her waiting and open hand. She used the traditionally longer chain to wrap around the Shadow's wrist once, then grabbing his other arm and wrapping it too. Once they were wrapped Avery grabbed the knife out of her arm and stuck it in between the chains, essentially locking them in place. With one sweep of her leg, she knocked the Shadow down face first onto the ground. The fall knocked him out, saving Avery that much more trouble.

She turned around to help Nightwing with the others. He already had half of them down, leaving two left. Avery ran towards the one that was giving Nightwing the most trouble and jumped up, using both legs to force the Shadow into the closed metal door. The force dazed him enough for Nightwing to knock him out completely, and then finish disabling the other.

Not even commenting about how Avery broke from the plan, Nightwing gave her a stiff nod of praise and explained what they needed to do next.

**A/N: Yup, getting there ever so slowly. I swear everything will be explained in later chapters if you had any questions here. I really suck at doing fight scenes, so these next few chapters will be great practice. Sorry if you don't like my updating schedule as of late, but I've got stuff to do. Thank you to those of you that accept how horrible my schedule is and developed a nice trait called patience. On another note, the last chapter didn't get very many reviews, I was kinda disappointed. On a brighter note, an artist on deviantArt did a picture of Avery at my request. You can put in the regular deviantArt address then put this: /art/Requested-YJ-Character-381182516**

**To the guest ZAP~ I will answer your wonderful question in a few chapters. So don't worry too much.**

**Please remember to go vote on the poll if you haven't! Have a great day.**

**Read. _Enjoy_. Review.**


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